Kung Fu Wolf: Rising of the Moon
by OkamiSamurai
Summary: Sequel to "Kung Fu Wolf" where we witness the new adventures of the Dragon Warrior and the Furious Five, and where we learn of Hiro's mysterious past.
1. Chapter 1

**Kung Fu Wolf: Rising Of The Moon**

Chapter one: New Faces

 **No one's P.O.V**

It had been three days since Hiro had brought peace and tranquility to his new home and his new master. A peace that was hard fought and we'll earned. The fight in question was against the rouge Kung Fu Master, Tai Lung.

Tai Lung had successfully dispatched all the members of the Furious Five, and the current Grandmaster of the Jade Palace, Shifu. However he could not succeed in defeating the Dragon

Warrior.

The battle, which could have been seen from the edges of the valley, could only be called legendary, as the two masters did battle that left the village scarred. Scars the villagers, and their new savior were trying to heal.

The dawn rises on the fourth morning since Tai Lung's arrival, and the mountain wolf, Master Hiro; the Dragon Warrior awakens to reflect on his now greatest achievement, as he prepares to continue to repair the damage he and Tai Lung caused.

Little did he know, that the challenges he will face in the future, will make his fight with Tai Lung look like child's play.

 **Hiro's P.O.V.**

Even after something as big as the fight I had with Tai Lung, the very thought of a vacation is almost unheard of. With the injuries my new friends had received at the hands of my greatest foe, they were put on bed rest until they are able to walk normally. That, however didn't stop Tigress, who was found attempting to get into the training hall on multiple occasions in just one day.

That woman's got guts, no denying that.

I, on the other hand was on my way down to the village to continue to assist with the repairs. The sun had risen about an hour ago, and everyone was wide awake, bright eyed and bushy tailed, and curly tailed, fluffy tailed, feather tailed. You get my point.

I walked down the street, passing by the villagers who took every opportunity to praise my deeds. After a while it starts to get a little embarrassing, but I'm sure it will die down soon. Eventually, things will get back to normal. Just gotta wait it out till then.

I stepped up to the home of the villages resident carpenter, a old goat named Maku, real nice guy. Started carpentry when he was in his late teens, been doing it ever since. He met his wife while he did repairs on her father's house, and built their home from the ground up. I know all this, because he told me. See, that's the thing about Maku, he likes to tell stories. He says it makes the day go by faster.

I respectfully disagree.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the occasional tale from time to time, but while I'm working, it only serves as a distraction. And of course, I can't tell him that, cause then I'll just seem like a prick. So I'll just suck it up, and listen to the time his daughter's first boyfriend came to visit. Actually, that one sounds a little entertaining.

I knocked on the door of the village carpenter and waited. It wasn't long, he came out a minute later. He was wearing a green carpenters outfit, complete with a leather belt with a iron loop on his side. His hammer was in the loop.

"Mornin' Hiro! Glad to see ya again." He said heartily. I swear no matter what the circumstance, this man always has a cheerful demeanor. I like it. Reminds me of myself when I was a pup. Good times...

Mostly.

"Hey there Maku. Where we gonna work today?"

He and I have been working on repairing the different buildings that got damaged in my fight with Tai Lung. Thankfully it was only three or four homes and honestly they aren't that hard to fix, if you know what you're doing.

"Well, we are going to start with Mr. Ping's noodle shop, I'm betting we will get done with that by lunch."

"Convenient, huh?" I said with a grin.

"Very. You think we can get free food for all our hard work? He asked with a hopeful look. My stomach started to grumble after he asked. Sometimes my hunger can be a problem, got me in trouble a couple of times.

Different story, another time.

"Nah, he'll most likely just give us a discount. But hey, better than nothing and paying full price, right?" I said with a little mischievous smirk.

"Yeah, I suppose so." He replied in a somewhat defeated tone. Can't blame him, free food is a great incentive for working with any restaurant.

We went around back to pick up some supplies; planks of wood, tools you know, stuff we need. We piled everything into his cart and started for Ping's Noodle shop. Maku led the way while I pulled the cart, he offered to help but I said it was part of my training. Shifu usually gets upset if I don't do at least one form of training, and heavy lifting seems to work for him.

We went down the street to Mr. Pings and on the way we passed a group of people who didn't look like they were from around here. Working on repairs gave me an opportunity to meet everyone here in the village, so now I know almost everyone here.

There were six of them, at the front of the group was an elderly female ibex, her face had lines that told me she smiles a lot. I like her already.

On the far left was a cute snow leopardess, who walked with a bounce in her step and a sway to her hips. She wore a light blue fighting dress that really made one notice her curves.

Keep it together Hiro, keep it together.

Next to her was, I kid you not, an honest to goodness polar bear! She was tall to the point you'd have arch your neck to look her in the eyes. I'll admit I was starring, for two reasons. One was her outfit. Her pants were torn, ending at mid thigh, showing off a lot of leg. But her shirt, oh gods above, her shirt looked several sizes too small and barely covered her chest.

Ok there is one more reason I was starring...

Her breasts were enormous! I actually thought the fabric of her shirt was going to tear from straining to keep her triple D mammoth melons in place.

I looked to the next person before my pants started to feel tight.

It was female sloth, with a laid back look on her face. She wore green baggy shirt, and baggy pants held up by a rope belt cinched tightly around her waist.

The next one, I couldn't tell if it was male or female, or even what species it was. It was covered head to toe in black silk and leather. Leather boots, black silk pants complete with black silk belt, black silk shirt under a black leather vest, black leather gloves, black silk scarf covering its face and a reed hat, painted black of course, covering its eyes. Nothing else to tell here, moving on.

The last was a clouded leopard who walked with a strut and had a cocky smile on his face. He wore a grey shirt that had a few clasps opened showing off his chest. I could already tell, this guy thought a lot of himself.

All six moved silently, except the snow leopardess who was humming cheerfully to herself. They were heading straight for the thousand steps that led to the Jade Palace. Part of me wanted to follow them to make sure they weren't up to anything devious, but two things stopped me. One if they were up to anything bad, it would show in their appearance, these guys look too dignified and kind for that (most of them anyway, don't know what to say about the walking pile of clothes).

Two was after I decided they weren't up to anything, I remembered I had a job to do. I drew my attention away from the newcomers and kept walking with Maku.

"Not often you see visitors like that around here." I heard Maku say beside me. I was pretty sure we had nothing to worry about, but still...

"You think we have anything to worry about?" I asked. I just needed to be sure. I didn't want to leave my new friends unprotected, normally I wouldn't be worried but with them injured the way they are...

"Nah, I wouldn't worry about it too much. Master Bi Long probably just stopped by for a visit." Who?

"Master who?" Seriously I've never heard of that person before. But Maku turned and looked at me like I was growing an extra head.

"You mean to tell me you've never heard of the master of the Sapphire Palace?" Can't say I've ever heard of the Sapphire Palace. Sure, I've been all over China, but I never covered every square inch. There's still plenty of places I haven't been. "It's built into the side of Changtse Mountain."

Well, no wonder, never been there.

"Well anyway" he sighed, " let's get to work before we get behind schedule." And he continued to Mr. Pings.

After looking back once more, I followed.

 **Tigress's P.O.V.**

We were all in the kitchen having breakfast (sans Hiro of course) enjoying the meal Hiro left for us. Like the rest of his meals it was very tasty, Viper, Crane and I were savoring our meal, while Mantis and Monkey abandoned all pretense of civility. They were scarfing down their food like there was no tomorrow. I'll admit, Hiro's food is good, but there is no reason to eat like savages.

"How did we ever survive without Hiro's amazing cooking!?" Mantis asked. An unnecessary yet valid question. I however just kept eating.

"We're still here, so I guess we managed somehow." Viper said after wiping the corners of her mouth off with a napkin. I agreed with Viper, still I don't think we could ever go back to what we ate before Hiro came.

He's only been here ten days and he's already made such a huge impact on our lives.

I almost couldn't believe it when I heard Hiro had completed the legendary Master Ken Lu's Lunar Style Kung Fu, and used it to defeat Tai Lung. I wanted to spar with him that night, but Master Shifu would have none of it. We, except for Hiro, were all put on medical restriction; meaning we couldn't train or spar until we had fully healed. It won't be much longer though. Then I'll be able to-

"Ahem! Attention everyone!"

We all looked to the doorway and saw Master Shifu with his cane. Fighting against Tai Lung had did a number on him. He started walking with a limp afterwards. I had asked Hiro if he knew any healing techniques, but he said he got kicked out after an incident with too much gauze.

"You are all to come to the front courtyard, we have guests." And with that he turned and left for the courtyard. We all glanced at each other, then followed suit.

"Who do you think it is?" Crane asked, as we made our way to the courtyard.

"Who knows, maybe it's someone to congratulate us for the whole Tai Lung thing." Mantis said, riding on Monkeys shoulder.

"Why would they do that? Tai Lung kicked our asses." Monkey said. He was right, none of us were able to beat Tai Lung. I heard that even Master Shifu failed.

Hiro was the only one to pull it off.

We made it to the courtyard and found a small group of people waiting for us. I recognized them immediately. Well most of them, I could never see the bundle of clothe's face. The females smiled and waved, the snow leopardess did a little more strongly than the others. The clouded leopard lifted an eyebrow and looked me up and down with a grin on his face.

I guess I'm going to have to beat him up again.

"Shifu! So good to see you again." The old female ibex stepped forward, arms wide open as if she were going to embrace our master. Which she did.

"Good to see you too, Bi Long. It's been awhile since our last meeting, hasn't it?" Shifu said with a small smile, which was rare for him. We stood a little a ways from them, Viper waved back at the while she had the chance.

"Twelve years is indeed a long time old friend. We came as fast as we could once we heard the news." What was she talking about? What had she heard that we didnt?

"When you heard? I'm not sure what you're talkin-"

"I'm sure you remember my students." Master Bi Long interrupted, one of her habits.

"Ah, yes, good to see you again Do Foon." He addressed the snow leopardess, who practically skipped forward and hugged Shifu like he was her favorite grandfather.

"Oh Master!" She giggled. "You know you can just call me Didi, everyone else does." She was always a real girly girl.

"Yes, well... I'll keep that in mind. Good morning Kira Ni." The well endowed polar bear stepped forward and bowed and spoke in a surprisingly feminine voice, considering her appearance.

"It is good to see you again Master Shifu, I hope you're well." I've know Kira for a while now, she's strong, polite, she just has one problem...

She's a compulsive gambler.

Loses money the same way I lose my patients.

"Very well thank you. Ah, Shu Lan I trust you enjoyed your journey?" The female sloth stepped forward, slowly, and smiled at Shifu like she was on a weird plant.

"Hey there, Shifu dude! How's it hanging." I've got nothing to say.

"As fine as can be expected I suppose. Are you still hiding from us, Zoyo Li?" The pile of clothes moved. To put it simply no one knows anything about Zoyo. He is an utter mystery, only Master Bi Long knows what he looks like under all that excessive attire.

"There's something new here." He spoke, almost whispering. Could he be referring to Hiro?

"Indeed there is, nothing escapes you does it?" Zoyo remained silent and still.

Shifu moved on.

"And Chin, welcome back." The clouded leopard stepped forward, like he owned the place.

"Good to see you too master, or should I say _grandmaster."_ I felt a snarl rise in my chest, but I held it back.

"I would like to say that the Sapphire Palace offers their condolences for the passing of a great man." That calmed me down a little, but only a little.

"Well thank you Chin. Is that What you all came for?" Shifu asked. I was hoping that would be the case. Its not that I don't like them, I just don't like one of them.

"No sir, once we heard Tai Lung had escaped, we rushed over to offer our assistance." Wait. They didn't know?

"You came to fight Tai Lung?" Shifu asked. We all looked at each other as if we missed something.

"Yes we have, but I..." Chin turned his attention to me. "Wished to see the lovely Tigress again." He moved to me and took my hand in his.

I moved quickly, in the blink of an eye Chin was on his knees, with his arm twisted behind his back.

"The last time you tried that I nearly broke your arm. Do you really want history to repeat itself?" I said through clenched teeth.

"Tigress, let him go!" I heard Master Shifu say. I did, reluctantly.

"I'm afraid you're too late. Tai Lung has already been defeated by the Dragon Warrior."

Di Foon gasped and started bouncing up and down like a schoolgirl,clapping her hands. "Oh Tigress, I always knew it would be you! Congratulations!" The others started to congratulate me for something that I had actually failed at. Time to tell them the truth.

"I'm not the Dragon Warrior." I said simply. They stopped talking, and donned looks of disbelief.

"Well if you're not the Dragon Warrior, then who is?" Kira asked looking at the rest of the five, who shook their heads when her eyes fell on them.

"Come on, who is it?" Chin asked impatiently.

We then heard a whistling sound coming from the stairs, we all knew it was so all five of us pointed to the direction the whistling was coming from.

Hiro climbed the last of the stairs when the Sapphire Palace masters turned their attention to him. Hiro was whistling cheerfully as he walked towards us.

"Well, Pings noodle shop got done earlier than expected, so I'm on break for a couple hours. Think I'll take the time to make a fancy lunch for our guests."

Di Foon was purring as Hiro walked passed, for some reason it rubbed me the wrong way. Hiro nodded to us as he walked, we nodded back, and he was about to head to the kitchen until...

"Wait a minute! Who do you think you are wolf?"

Hiro slowly turned around and faced Chin with a "I'm not amused" look.

Thankfully Shifu stepped forward.

"I'd like to introduce to you the Dragon Warrior, Hiro."

They let that sink in for a moment. Di Foon's purring got louder, Master Bi Long got a look of happy surprise, Kira nodded her head in acceptance, Zoyo just stood there, and Chin...

Chin burst out laughing.

Hiro got a look of annoyance as Chin laughed, I couldn't blame him but the I would have knocked Chin out by now.

Chin barely was as to contain himself enough to ask...

" _You're_ the Dragon Warrior? _You're_ the one who beat Tai Lung?"

"Yes I am." He said with pride and confidence, I can't explain it but it was _interesting_ how he said it.

Chin must've found it funny, because he started laughing even harder this time.

"This is a joke, right?" Right now I wanted nothing more than to drive my fist down his throat.

"I am, but if you don't want to believe it, I really don't care." And with that Hiro continued on his way to the kitchen.

Wow. He looked so _dignified_ just now... it really suits him.

Chin got a look of anger that he poorly tried to hide behind a smile.

"Prove it, then."

Hiro stopped and turned around again. We waited, knowing what was coming.

"Fight me."

 **A/N.** **Hey guys I'm back! Sorry this next story took so long, I was busy and a little distracted. Well, you know the drill, comment, like, fave, review, let me know how I'm doing.**

 **Peace.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Kung Fu Wolf: Rising of the Moon**

 **A/N. Ok I want to take a moment before I forget** _ **again**_ **, that the contest I started is still in effect. If you want to know what you gotta do, look for the last chapter of Kung Fu Wolf, my first story. I'd like to thank those who already sent in their entries, you know who you are.**

 **Ok back to the story.**

Chapter two: A friendly fight

 **Hiro's P.O.V.**

A fight? He wants a fight? What good will that do? I mean I enjoy the occasional brawl as much as the next guy, but usually there is a reason behind it. Accidentally spilling my drink on someone, bumping into a drunk at the pub, unintentionally tripping someone with their arms full.

Hey I never said they were good reasons.

But then again there have been some good reasons I've started a fight.

Ask me later.

"Why?" I asked simply. He gave me a cocky grin.

"Because, I don't believe a word you say about being the one who beat Tai Lung." He said, lifting his *snicker* _chin_ up at me...

Regardless of how funny it is, I know an act of defiant challenge when I see one. But I think I'm going to be the bigger man here.

"Whether you believe it or not, it still happened. I suggest you come to terms with it." And I continued to the kitchen to start cooking. But he just kept going.

"So you're just going to walk away? I knew from the moment I saw you, you were a coward."

I stopped.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Viper, Mantis, Monkey and Crane try their best to hold Tigress back. She looked as if she was ready to murder someone. Her eyes locked firmly on Chin.

I walked over to Tigress and placed my hand on her shoulder. She stopped struggling against the rest of the five almost immediately. She looked at me and calmed down considerably, her breathing was still heavy and she still had a look of hate in her eye, but that was slowly fading. Once she had relaxed I took my hand off her, smiled and nodded my thanks to her.

Tigress can be very understanding when she wants to be...

But not often.

I turned my attention back to Chin, the rest of the Sapphire Palace masters were glaring at him, obviously this has happened before. And now because of his mouth it's gonna happen again.

"If you really want to fight me, you have to do something first." I said with a little evil grin. It caught him off guard, his grin disappeared and his posture got more defensive.

"What?" He asked cautiously. My smile got a little wider, I had no mirror on me but if I had to guess I'd say I looked rather devious.

"Say please."

He blinked.

The Sapphire masters blinked.

And even though I had my back to them, i'm guessing the Furious Five blinked.

"What?" He asked again, a little agitated. "I am not going to say please so I can fight you!" He practically yelled.

I love messing with people like this.

"If you want to fight me, say please."

He gave me a look to rival Tigress's death glare, which I had the unfortunate role of being on the receiving end of when Master Shifu said I wasn't confined to bed rest.

Tigress doesn't have to do or say anything and she can be very scary.

Anyway, Chin kept glaring at me and I just stood there smiling. "I'm waiting." I said in a sing songy voice. Now it was his turn to look like he was ready to commit murder.

*mumble*

I had him. I knew it and he knew it. One of the ways you can put a punk like this in his place is to poke at his ego. The beat down is just icing on the cake.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" I was starting to get snickers, and giggles from my side while the Sapphire masters were eyeing their teammate wondering if he was really going to swallow his pride just for a fight.

" _Please."_ He said through clenched teeth.

Anyone who tries to piss me off learn, I don't get mad...

I get even.

" _Pretty_ Please." I kept going. His friends looked like they were about to try and hold him back. But honestly, they looked a little reluctant to try.

" _Pretty please."_ Oh man, he is looking pissed. Just one more push...

"With sugar on top." He lost it.

"FUCK YOU!" He came charging at me, completely blind with rage.

And that's all I needed to tell me how he fights.

You see, back when I was training with Shifu, he told me that you can learn a lot about how someone fights, whether they be student or master, by the way they give in to their emotions. A tactic that works very well against hard style users, like Chin. Soft style users like myself are much harder to,figure out. The best way to find out is to try and learn something about their fighting style while you're fighting.

I got in my stance, and let Chin swing first. I hope he won't be too mad when I knock his ass to the ground.

A little humility is good for you.

 **Tigress's P.O.V.**

Letting your anger control you is one of the worst mistakes you can make in a fight. Hiro learned that on our first sparring session. I almost smiled at the memory, Hiro spent all day being thrown down but not once did he stay down.

I learned a couple of interesting things about him that day. One, he had an untapped talent for kung fu, an ancient style of Kung Fu that hasn't been seen in a very long time.

And two, he is incapable of understanding how to surrender, quit, give up, throw in the towel, or anything of that fashion. He'll get beaten to a pulp and he will still get back up for more.

Its something I really admire about him.

The last time I saw Hiro fight was when he first got here. He was inexperienced, except with the pair of hanbo he normally carries on his back. He was weaker, slower, and none of us had to put in much effort to knock him on his ass. But that was when he was a novice.

Now he is a master.

And there is no way I'm going to miss seeing him fight as one.

Chin charged at Hiro, full speed, putting all of his momentum into a single punch as if to end the fight early. Hiro stayed perfectly still until the very last second. Once Chins fist came within, I'd say about a foot and a half, of Hiro, he grabbed Chins wrist, twisted around and used his momentum to throw Chin into one of the pillars at the Jade Palace doors, forty feet away.

"I got twenty almond cookies that says Hiro wins in ten minutes. " I heard Monkey say behind me.

"Twenty-five says nine minutes." Answers Mantis.

"Thirty in seven minutes!" Crane said almost smugly.

"Thirty-five in six and a half!" I guess it was too much to hope for that Viper would stay out of their childish games.

But now that I think about it, I don't think they're giving Hiro enough credit...

"Fifty almond cookies says Hiro wins in three minutes."

They stared at me like I had just gone crazy, but answered quickly,

"You're on!" They all said simultaneously. I don't normally partake in games like this, but I figure it will be my way of putting my faith in Hiro.

"How long has it been?" Viper asked. I was trying to think of when the fight started when...

"Fifty-six seconds." We all looked to Master Shifu, slightly surprised. He turned his gaze to us when he felt our eyes on him. "I've been keeping track." He explained. That was good enough for me.

Chin rushed down to Hiro and threw himself at the wolf Master in a flying kick, evidently Chin isn't a fast learner. Hiro sidestepped out of the way, Chin flying harmlessly past him. Chin landed a few feet from Hiro and snarled in frustration, then rushed forward again and unleashed his fury upon Hiro.

In the Sapphire Palace, Chin holds the title of being the second strongest, so honestly I was a little worried about Hiro's safety for a second, but only for a second. After that I felt a little silly for even thinking Hiro could ever lose, except to me of course but I haven't fought him yet, so I'm guessing at this point.

Chin had been throwing a flurry of punches at high speed, all of which were intended to inflict serious harm if they found their way to their intended target.

Not a single one came close to hitting Hiro.

Every punch Chin threw was caught or deflected by Hiro's palms. My first time seeing Hiro fight and I must say I was amazed. Hiro stood rooted at that spot, his arms were all that moved, his hands creating an impenetrable barrier around him. This must be the Lunar Sphere that I've heard of. It is amazing.

...

 _He_ is amazing.

Suddenly a single one of Chins punches got through Hiro's defenses and went straight for his nose. Everyone got tense for a second, I on the other hand knew what he was doing. Hiro let Chin get past him.

Once Chin's fist came within an inch of Hiro's nose he dropped down to,one knee letting the punch fly over his head. Chin had just enough time to look down as Hiro's palm slammed deep into Chins guts. Everyone flinched at the sound the impact made, it had to knock all the air out of him.

Hiro stood up and let Chin fall on his face, the fight was over.

"Okay, how long did that take?" Mantis asked, everyone suddenly remembered the wager we all had going on, and we turned our attention to Shifu.

"Two minutes and fifty eight seconds." I win! Everyone groaned when they heard Shifu, Monkey was the loudest about it. But he changed his attitude when Hiro walked back over to our side.

"Well done Hiro!"

"That was awesome!"

"Never seen anything like it!"

They kept praising him which he accepted with his usual smile.

"Well I didn't want him to suffer, so I ended it quickly." He said.

"You think you could have kept it going for a few more minutes?" Monkey grumbled. Be really can be a sore loser sometimes.

"No, why?" He asked.

"No reason." I said. I don't think Hiro would appreciate it if he found out that the was the source of a bet.

"Man, he owned you dude."

We all turned to see the Sapphire Masters surrounding Chin, some where concerned, some saw this coming, one I had no idea, I couldn't see his face. Shu Lan was poking Chin in the side of his head, probably to see if he was still alive.

"Hey Chin dude if you're dead can I have your room?" She asks as she continued to poke his head. He smacks her and away a little harder than necessary, hard enough to make a growl escape Hiro's throat.

"No! You can't have my room even if I was dead." He said, trying to get his breath back. "That was just a fluke, I want a rematch!"

Hiro gave an exasperated sigh and shook his head.

"Don't worry, he's like this every time he loses a fight."

The snow leopardess, Di Loon, appeared out of nowhere at Hiro's side. Literally. She was hanging on his arm and purring. I could feel my temper rising.

"I, on the other hand, am a very good sport. In fact I often _reward_ some of the people who beat me." She started fluttering her eyelashes at him. Nearly drove me over the edge for some reason.

"I'll keep that in mind." Hiro responded nervously, gently prying himself from her grasp.

"Didi!" Master Bi Long called. Di Loon walked away with a wink to Hiro back to her group. I started growling, and I couldn't understand why. I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked up to see Hiro with a concerned look on his face.

"You okay?" He asked. I felt heat rushing to my cheeks and nodded quickly. Why is this happening to me?

"Well now that that's out of the way, Dragon Warrior please prepare brunch for our guests." Master Shifu commanded.

Hiro nodded to our master. "You got it sir. Gonna fix you all a hell of a meal!" He exclaimed as he walked to the kitchens.

"Before you leave I just have one quick question for you Dragon Warrior." Master Bi Long said to Hiro.

Hiro turns and faces her. "Shoot."

"How long have you been training at the Jade Palace?" She asks.

"Ten days."

Looks of shock and amazement shot across the faces of the Sapphire masters. I can't say I blame them, didn't believe it myself when we got back after Tai Lung beat all five of us.

"Absolutely amazing! Your parents must be very proud." She said with a large smile.

Hiro froze.

And what he said next shook me to the core.

"What parents? I've been an orphan since my first breath."

 **A/N.** **Well that's that. You all know the drill comment, fave. And remember the contest is still going, look to the last part of my first story "Kung Fu Wolf" or PM me and ask what the contest is and for rules.**

 **See ya next time!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Kung Fu Wolf: Rising of the Moon**

Chapter three: The New Task

 **No one's P.O.V.**

Despite the kitchen being filled with twice the number of people, silence reigned. Hiro revealing that he had been an orphan all his life had left everyone speechless. The only sound to be heard was the utensils clanking around as Hiro calmly cooked a large brunch for his friends and guests.

The silence had become so uncomfortable that Mantis decided to break it with a rather unnecessary question.

"So what orphanage where you from Hiro?"

Everyone gave Mantis a disapproving look, Viper smacked him in the back of the head with her tail.

"Ow! What was that for!?" Mantis yelled, rubbing the spot where Viper had smacked him.

She hissed at him under her breath. "Why would you ask him such an insensitive question? What's wrong with you?"

"The silence is killing me!" Mantis shouted softly.

"Ever stop to think that maybe he doesn't want to talk about it?" Said Kira, sternly.

"Why wouldn't he want to talk about it? It's a perfectly legitimate question." Monkey whispered.

"But it's also an inappropriate question." Tigress whispered harshly.

Their arguments continued quietly, however unbeknownst to them Hiro heard every word.

"Cho Zhu."

Silence reigned once again as they all turned their heads to face Hiro, who just stood and continued to cook.

"You heard us?" Viper asked sheepishly.

Hiro turned his head and faced her as best he could, and smiled. "Well, the room isn't really that big, and wolves have really good ears."

Both groups of masters looked down at the table, guilty that they had brought up a subject they probably shouldn't have behind Hiro's back.

"And I spent time in Cho Zhu orphanage, Mantis. Its way, way, waaay west of here." Hiro continued as he started to put the finishing touches on the little feast he had prepared. "It was a nice place until it came under new management. I sure do miss my old matron though."

Once again the only sound to be heard was the dishes being used, until Mantis opened his mouth again.

"So what happened over there to- ouch!"

Mantis never finished he question on account of Tigress slamming her palm onto the insect.

"Once the orphanage got a new manager, the kids with fangs and claws became targets of prejudice."

Tigress's jaw almost dropped. She never would've thought that Hiro, the wolf who always had a smile on his face, would have a childhood similar to hers.

A groan drew the attention of everyone at the table, Mantis had recovered from Tigress's harsh reprimand.

"So how many kids got that raw deal?" He asked once again earning glares from the female members of the group, save for Tigress, who calmly got up and walked to the cupboard and retrieved a bowl. She walked back to the table and placed the bowl upside down on top of Mantis. Muffled shouts were heard from the bowl, but was could not lift it up as Tigress walked away again and returned with five large bags of rice which she then placed on the bowl that had Mantis trapped.

Tigress received approving nods from the girls at the table as she calmly took her seat. The boys however, clenched their jaws together so as to not say anything foolish, and moved slightly away from tiger master, with fear in their eyes.

Hiro chuckled to himself as the ordeal transpired, but answered the question anyway.

"I was the,only child who fit the description of the new manager's definition of a demon, so I was the only one who dealt with it until I ran away."

Tigress was amazed on how well he was opening up about his past like this. It would have taken her a lot longer just to talk to someone she trusted very well about such painful memories. "How old were you?" Was all she asked.

Muffled shouting could be heard from the pile of rice bags on the table, though no one could understand what was being said.

"What'd he say?" Shu Lan asked in her usual dazed voice.

Hiro brought over the food and set them in front of everyone, then proceeded to lean forward and listen to the rice.

"Its a little hard to make out, but I think he's complaining about Tigress being able to ask questions, but he can't."

"Wow, that's impressive." Commented Kira.

"Can be a disadvantage sometimes." Hiro smiled.

"And I was seven years old when I ran away from the orphanage."

"That young?" A voice said from the doorway.

All the masters looked up to see their respective grandmasters entering the kitchen. "Why would run off at such a young age, master Hiro?" Master Bi Long asked.

Hiro went to get more plates for them as he answered. "No one was going to adopt me and I got tired of being singled out as a monster. The new boss of the place never could give a good reason on why he hated me so much, but he did. So I ran." He presented the plates of the food, Buddhist delight, to Bi Long and Shifu as he finished his little story.

"And I never regretted it for an instant."

Hiro then got a plate for himself and sat down to eat. As the partook in the meal that the wolf Master had prepared the masters of the Sapphire Palace dropped their chopsticks and froze, looks of shock plastered on their faces, save for Zoyo who's face couldn't be seen. The Jade Palace masters looked up and smirked, remembering that they did something similar when they first tried Hiro's cooking. Hiro however was more concerned that What he made wasn't adequate enough for their guests.

"Is something wrong?" He asked.

Within a second the Sapphire masters began wolfing (no pun intended) down their food and simultaneously asked for...

"Seconds!"

After witnessing them enjoy their food with such gusto, Hiro was more than happy to refill their plates. Once they had gotten their second helpings they settled down to eat, slower this time.

"Gotta admit, this is without a doubt the best meal I've ever had." Kira Ni said after swallowing a rather large mouthful.

"Yeah. I still don't believe you're the Dragon Warrior, but you are a very decent cook." Chin commented.

After a series of eye rolls and groans the debate began.

"Why don't you believe he's the Dragon Warrior, Chin? He made knocking you on your ass look easy." Di Foon said with a sweet smile.

"First of all I landed on my face. And sec-" Chin tried to say but was interrupted.

"Doesn't change the fact the he beat you rather easily." Zoyo quietly stated.

Chin ignored him and continued. "Second, I don't have to believe he's the Dragon Warrior. And if I don't believe it then it's not real."

Chin received a lot of skeptical looks at his little philosophy as Hiro got up to get himself second helpings.

"So what you're saying is that if you believe in something it's gotta be real?" Tigress inquired.

"Exactly, which also means that if you can't see something, doesn't mean it doesn't exist." Chin said, eyeing Tigress once again.

"Exactly what color is the sky in the world you live in, Chin?" Tigress asked, not understanding how Chin's philosophy works.

Suddenly a frying pan came flying and collided with Chins head. All eyes turned to the source of the projectile and all eyes locked on Hiro.

"Whoops. My hand slipped. My bad." Hiro said, chuckling nervously. Everyone shrugged and continued eating like nothing had happened, Tigress however allowed herself a small smile at the wolf's antics. She was starting to imagine herself and Hiro teaming up on Chin when Hiro came back to the table with a plate of food.

"And honestly I think I get Chin's philosophy." He said, gesturing to Chins now unconscious form with his chopsticks.

"You do?" Tigress asked, curious and skeptical. "Please explain then." She requested, wanting to understand how he can understand.

"Well, I'm thinking that he thinks it a matter of personal faith. Anyone can believe what they want, and as long as they believe in something it is real to them. Hope is a perfect example. We all know that hope is not a physical thing, you can't really see it, or feel it physically. But as long as you believe, it's there."

And with that explanation Tigress finally began to understand, although not fully.

"Well said Master Hiro." Shifu declared. "Well, that's enough for me. When you're all finished you may head to the training hall, you're free to train again."

A light cheer erupted from the Five, they began to eat more quickly, excited to begin training again as another day of bed rest would most likely make them lose their minds. Tigress was going to use this opportunity to finally spar with Hiro.

"Hiro, are you needed in the village at all for any more repairs?" Shifu asked, unknowingly crushing Tigress's plans with the wolf.

"I'm not sure, I'll have to go down and check." He said picking up the plates and chopsticks and placing them in the sink as the Five and their guests left for the training hall.

"Go and see, and if there is nothing for you there come back for your training." Shifu said, putting his hands behind his back.

Hiro bowed to his master. "Yes sir." And left for the village.

 **Tigress's P.O.V.**

Just great! I'm finally able to train again, and Hiro has got to go down to the village. Needless to say I was not happy, and to make matters worse...

"Hey Tigress, wanna train with me? I promise I'll be gentle."

...I have to deal with Chin hitting on me again.

But then again, maybe I can use him to vent out my frustrations.

"Sure, why not." I said with a evil grin. Chin started to get excited and started to put his so called _moves_ on me, which caused me to put him in a rather excruciating arm lock.

It took me about ten seconds to make Chin scream like a girl.

...

Wait. That's unfair... to the girls.

I was in the middle of trying to tie Chins legs in a knot, when Viper pulled me away. And with the size difference between us it wasn't easy.

She pulled me over to the sparring mat at the side of the training hall.

"Lets talk." She said as she bowed to me and got in her stance.

I gave a heavy sigh, returned the bow and got in my own stance. For years this is how Viper and I had our "girl talks". It was a compromise we worked out; training and talking. Neither of us was entirely happy with it, so it worked out. Don't ask how.

"So, wanna tell me what's wrong. I thought you would be happy to be training again." She said as we began to spar. I've know Viper for a very long time, it's almost as if we really are sisters. I talk to her about things I could never talk about with anyone else. And she does the same with me.

I looked around to see if anyone was listening in on our conversation. Once I became convinced our talk would remain private, I spoke up.

"It's nothing important, just a little disappointed." I confessed.

"This wouldn't have anything to do with Hiro by any chance would it?" She asked with a somewhat sly grin that made me a little uncomfortable.

I sighed again. "I was just so looking forward to training with him. I wanted to experience the Lunar Style first hand. And now I'm starting to think that the universe is conspiring against me on the matter." Seriously I just want one fight with Hiro is that too much to ask? I want to know, personally, how strong he's become since the night I tried to really teach him Kung Fu. After Tai Lung had been beaten by Hiro, I decided that if I can't be the Dragon Warrior I'd settle for being the Dragon Warriors equal. But to do that I _need_ to fight him myself.

...

...

Is it just me, or do I sound a little obsessed?

"Don't worry, you'll get your chance." Viper consoled.

"Yeah." I wasn't entirely convinced.

The doors suddenly burst open and Hiro came running in, out of breath, to Shifu.

Everyone stopped what they were doing once they heard the doors slam open, and kept their eyes locked on Hiro.

"Master Hiro, is there something wrong?" Shifu asked, concerned.

Hiro tried to catch his breath, and everyone started to gather around him.

"Well not really it's just-" Hiro's attention was drawn to Chin who was still nursing his legs. "What happens to him?"

"Tigress." Monkey answered simply. I shifted a little uncomfortably.

"Oh. Well anyway, there's someone here looking for help."

As if on cue, a tall black panther walked through the doors. He was well muscled and rather good looking. But what caught my attention was a sword across his back that was as long as he was tall. Whoever this guy is, he means business.

"Howdy"

Huh?

"Pleased to meet y'all. The names Marcus and I was told that you could help me."

His accent is weird.

It was deep, but it was like crawling. He was obviously from somewhere far away.

Master Shifu stepped forward. "Its good to meet you, Marcus. We would be willing to hear your plight and if we can we will help you." Marcus bowed from his waist in gratitude. "But first..."

We all looked to our master...

"Has anyone seen Master Mantis?"

Oops.

 **No One's P.O.V.**

"They are soooooo gonna pay for this." He said, still under the bowl.

 **A/N** **. Ok that's done. I want to say that I'm a little concerned that no one wants to participate in my little contest. Its alright if no one does, but I'm still encouraging everyone to try. If anyone wants to know what the contest is, you can either PM me, or check the last chapter of my first story "Kung Fu Wolf".**

 **Anyway, comment review, tell me how I'm doing, just be honest.**

 **Laterz.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Kung Fu Wolf: Rising of the Moon**

Chapter four: A plea for help.

 **Hiro's P.O.V.**

We all gathered in the Hall of Hero's to listen to the Panthers story. While I was down seeing if I had anything left to do, which I didn't, I saw Marcus wandering around asking people if they could help him out with something. He seemed distressed about whatever it was that was bothering him, so I asked him what was up, he told me and I brought him to the Jade Palace.

What did he say, you might ask?

I'll let him tell you that.

"I need y'alls help to find my sister."

Y'all...

That's a funny word.

"You see, my sister and I aren't from around here." Obviously. "We're from the jungles of a land a long ways from here." Which would explain the odd accent. "After that, we moved to another place by sea, where I learned to use this big sword." He pulled it out as a visual aid. The handle was about a food and a half long, and the blade was around five feet, and slightly curved. Looked dangerous to anyone who would be on the receiving end of that had boy.

"What had happened was that there was a large gang of bandits terrorizing the place, so my sister and I decided to come here to China. But there was some mixup and we ended up on separate ships." How the hell does that happen? Seriously, how dense do you have to be to realize your sibling isn't on the same ship as you?

"How did that happen?" Viper asked, her heart already going out to the panther. I looked around and saw in everyone's eyes that they were already planning to help. Don't get me wrong, I wanna help this guy out too, but like I said before, how did they get separated?

"The bandit gang was attacking the port city, so we had to get out in a hurry, and we weren't the only ones who had the idea. Half the city climbed on the ship's to get the hell out of dodge, and in all the confusion she and I were separated."

Ahh. Well that'll do it. I now apologize for my previous statements.

"So I went around from town to town asking for help, and no one would even listen to me. Then today, I ran into this her wolf feller. He was the only one who took the time to hear me out."

Feller? Yeah, it's gonna take a while to get used to the way he talks.

Shifu cast a quick glance at me and nodded.

Looks like it's time for a new adventure.

Yay!

 **Tigress's P.O.V. five minutes later**

I'm starting to think I'll never have my fight with Hiro. First it was the mandatory bedrest, then it was the Sapphire Palace masters visit, now this. I sighed to myself, and scowled at the scene before me. Not five minutes after Master Shifu accepted Marcus's request an argument broke out on who would be the one to go on this little quest. The Jade Palace or the Sapphire Palace.

Chin started the argument saying the Sapphire Palace ought to take care of this since they came here to help right Tai Lung but lost their chance. Not really our fault. Then Mantis pointed out that Marcus came to the _Jade Palace_ for help, and it went back and forth like that ever since. The only ones who stood quietly were the grandmasters, Master Zoyo, Hiro, who was now standing next to me, and myself. Masters Shifu and Bi Long stood there with disapproving looks on their faces. Who know what Zoyo's expression was under that outfit of his. I was getting more annoyed by the second by their childish bickering. Hiro looked on and seemed interested in what was going on.

Hiro leaned closer to me and whispered to me, his breath on my ear sent shivers down my spine, and I couldn't understand why. "Is it always like this when they come to visit?" He asked, referring to the Sapphire Palace masters. I recovered from the weird feeling I got when Hiro whispered to me, and answered.

"More or less. They all have the titles of masters, but they can act like children sometimes." Then as the argument before us got more heated I added. "Our own group included." I really expected better of Crane and Viper, they're better than this. Monkey and Mantis, however are living up to my expectations.

I felt a hand on my shoulder, and looked up to see Hiro smiling at me. Suddenly I felt weak in the knees. What the hell is going on with me? "Don't hold it against them. Both sides have valid points." True. "Come on, let's go." He said and made his way to the door.

"Let's go where?" I asked him but still started to follow. He turned his head and exchanged a nod with Master Shifu, and turned back to me.

"We're getting ready to go." He said, still smiling. Now I'm confused.

"Go? How do you know we are going to get this job?"

"We're not, we'll not just us anyway. It's going to be a Jade and Sapphire collaboration mission."

"How are you so sure about this? Did you talk to Shifu when we Weren't looking or something?" I asked, stepping through the doorway and into the midday sun. We beelined it to the barracks, Hiro looking over his shoulder as he explained it to me.

"Think of it this way, the Sapphire Palace masters came here to help fight against Tai Lung, but lost their chance when I kicked his ass, right?"

"Yeah..." Still doesn't explain how he knows what's gonna happen.

"Well since they lost their chance, and since Marcus came to the Jade Palace, it's only fair that both teams participate in this little adventure." He finished as we stepped into the barracks.

I thought about it for a moment and realized he was right. Besides, the mission has a better chance of a successful end if both teams work together on this. That is if they stop arguing first.

He stepped into his room and closed the door, I went to mine and grabbed a small coin purse Viper got me for my last birthday. I don't usually like celebrating my birthday, but it's still nice that someone remembers. I stepped out and shut the door behind me, then waited in the hall for Hiro.

When he stepped out he changed out of his training outfit and into something new. He now wore a black shirt almost similar to mine with a Dragon embroidered in silver thread on the side. He wore loose dark grey pants with a white sash tied around it. He had the leather holster for his hanbo on his back, complete with the wooden weapons. And finally a white bandana with a black dragon on his forehead.

He looks good.

He smiled at me again and said. "You ready?"

I nodded and we both exited the barracks and made our way to the now quiet training hall. We walked through the doors and saw everyone lined up at attention facing both grandmasters. At least some order had been restored while we were gone.

Our return gained the attention of our master, who addressed us as we approached. "Good to see you're ahead of us wolf, I trust you're already aware that both the Jade and Sapphire Palaces will work together for this mission?"

Hiro shrugged and said. "Lucky guess."

"Well, the rest of you, get ready. You leave in five minutes."

Viper, Crane, Monkey and Mantis all bowed to Master Shifu and headed off to the barracks. Master Bi Long instructed her students to get ready as well, and headed off to the Hall of Heros. I noticed as they walked by, they took a moment to take in Hiro's new look. Kira Ni and Shu Lan nodded their approval, Di Foon started purring and, I'm not kidding, drooling. Chin Scowled at Hiro, I scowled at Chin, Hiro just smiled. Zoyo…

…

You're guess is as good as mine.

Hiro and I bowed to the masters and went to wait outside for everyone as we were already prepared. Before we got to the door to the outside training area we heard Master Shifu call to us.

"Be careful you two. I sense this mission will be more difficult and dangerous than it seems."

We both faced him and bowed once more.

"We will do our best Master." I said, not being able remember the last time he was so concerned before we left on a mission.

"Don't worry about us Master, we'll be fine." I heard Hiro say next to me. He sounded so sure of it too.

We left the training hall and made our way to the front courtyard and waited for the others to show up.

I looked around, the courtyard was completely empty of people…

But full of memory.

It was here where I got my first good look at the Jade palace in all it's glory. It was here where I first met Master Oogway. It was here where I first began my training in the arts of Kung Fu. It was here where I met my friends, and became a member of the Furious Five.

…

And it was here where I first met Hiro.

"Did you think it would end up like this?" I asked. He turned to me with a confused look on his face.

"What d'you mean?"

"When you first landed here, did you think things would turn out like they did? You defeating Tai Lung, becoming the Dragon Warrior, mastering an unfinished style of Kung Fu, training at the Jade Palace. Things like that."

He thought about it for a second and said. "Two weeks ago, if someone said I would be able to do all those things, I wouldn't be able to breath."

"Because you wouldn't be able to take in all the great things you would be able to do?" I guessed.

"No, because I'd be laughing too hard."

That little comment made me giggle before i had a chance to stop myself. And that got a smile out of him.

"Wow, never thought in a thousand years I'd ever get you to laugh. It really suits you, you know."

I felt heat rushing to my cheeks and turned away so he wouldn't see. "You shouldn't say things like that Hiro."

"Who's gonna hear us?" he whispered.

I turned back to him…

And our eyes met.

Even if I wanted to, I don't think I could ever turn myself away from his gaze. I just looked deeper and deeper into those forest green eyes until I felt lost in them. In those eyes I saw no doubt, no fear, but confidence, strength and something else I couldn't identify. A kind of sad longing.

"Alright let's go!"

We broke eye contact and saw the rest of our group coming down the stairs, with Marcus not far behind. All of them were prepared for the journey ahead.

My mind went back the the moment Hiro and I had. I still don't understand what happened, but a small part of me wished it could have lasted a little longer. I'll need to remember to ask Viper about this later. But for now…

"Yes, let's go."

 **Hiro's P.O.V. one hour later.**

We stopped. not because we were tired or hungry. But because no one could stop arguing! But to be perfectly honest I wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention. I kept thinking about the fact that I was flirting with Tigress. I couldn't help it though, it was just me and her… all alone… just talking… one thing lead to anoth-

Why did I say that!?

I got one side of me saying _way to go, dude!_ While giving me a thumbs up. Then I got another side of me saying _what the hell were you thinking!?_ I always knew Tigress wasn't like other girls. If I were to ask any other girl out on a date, worst case is she turns me down. With Tigress I gotta be careful she doesn't _take_ me down.

Still… it seemed like she enjoyed it. She didn't hit me, or get angry or anything. She smiled, she laughed!

Maybe…

The arguing got loud enough to where I couldn't ignore it anymore.

Here's what's going on. The ship Marcus's sister got on was headed for the port city of Shanghai. Now, the best way to get there on foot would be to use the Yangtze river, but with the rainy season starting, it was no longer an option. So everyone started throwing out their ideas...at the same time. I think I even heard someone say we should build a giant kite and fly over there. Now that's not a bad idea, if we could work out how to not crash when we land.

I have one idea, but It's a little crazy.

"Alright, enough!" Tigress looked like she was getting a headache. Can't say I blame her, all this arguing is enough to give anyone a migraine. "In case you all haven't noticed, this isn't getting us anywhere! The Yangtze river is out of the question, so we need to find a more sensible option to get us to Shanghai."

Well, here goes nothing.

"What about the Migong Canyon?"

All eyes were suddenly locked on me. I'm pretty sure the word "Insane" ran through everyone's minds. I can understand though, the Migong Canyon isn't exactly the safest route.

But it is the fastest.

"She said sensible, not suicidal." Chin cast another scowl my way. If this guy's looking for another ass-kicking, I'd be more than happy to oblige him. "Why would you even suggest that? No one can get through that deathtrap."

"Except… those who have already done so." Zoyo said quietly. Finally, someone on my side.

And just like that, the arguments begin again, but this time everyone is arguing with me.

Nice to know how many people trust me around here.

"Quiet!" And once again Tigress calls for order. "Hiro, can you really lead us through the canyon and out again in one piece?"

She's putting her trust in me…

I can't let her down.

I nodded. "I can."

She nodded back. "Then let's go."

 **A/N Hey I'm back! Y'all miss me yet?**

 **Couple things I'd like to announce…**

 **First the contest is over. And the winner is *Drumroll* Tigergirl713! Congrats! I'd like to thank those (very) few who participated, and hope more will take part in the next contest.**

 **Second thing, I am going to continue the Okami Files, so don't think that after what that hater said, I'm gonna throw in the towel.**

 **well that's it, like, review, but be honest.**

 **Disclaimer. Characters from Kung Fu Panda belong to Dreamworks**

 **Hiro, and the Jade Palace masters belong to me.**

 **Marcus belongs to Mikat2**

 **peace**


	5. Chapter 5

**Kung Fu Wolf: Rising of the Moon**

Chapter Five: The Migong Canyon

Hiro's P.O.V.

If they don't stop staring at me like that, they're gonna burn a hole in the back of my head.

We've been walking for a couple of hours since Tigress backed my suggestion to go through the Migong canyon, and I felt everyone's eyes on me the whole way.

Tigress was keeping a step of two behind me, looking ahead. Obviously she trusted me enough to go along with this crazy plan.

Once you see Migong Canyon you'll understand why the plan is crazy.

Chin had been glaring at me since I suggested this little detour. Now I think he questioning my sanity, can't say I blame him though. The canyon is a very dangerous place to go, even for the most experienced of travelers.

Zoyo was... I have no idea what he's doing. He needs to at least take that hat off. I mean, how do I know he's not making faces at me under that hat?

Everyone else was staring at me, like I'd gone insane. It's actually beginning to be unnerving.

I slowed my pace until Tigress and I were walking side by side. "I can understand that everyone is questioning my judgment, but frankly this is getting old." I whispered to her. She shook her head before answering.

"I know, but they're scared. Most people try to avoid the Migong Canyon." She paused as though thinking of something. Then she spoke. "Why did you want to go through that deathtrap anyway?"

I sighed to myself and said. "Simple, since the Yangtze River is out of the question, the Migong Canyon is the fastest choice. As long as everyone stays close, we'll get through just fine." That is… if they all trust me enough to get them through. "You trust me, right?"

She looked a little taken back at the question. "What do you mean? Do I trust you to get us through the canyon? Of course I do." I looked in her eyes and saw no doubt, no worries. But when I looked in her eyes I also felt a fluttering in my stomach, my spine started to tingle...

And the side of my head started to hurt, because I walked into a low hanging branch.

The group behind us erupted into laughter. Glad I could break some of the tension. Tigress threw a glare their way and slowly silence once again reigned in the forest where we were traveling. I checked the side of my head, it didn't hurt too much, defiantly gonna leave a bruise though.

Marcus wiped a tear from his eye and asked. "Hey, how much longer 'till we make it to this canyon anyways?" I don't think I'll ever get used to his accent.

I poked at the spot where I hit my head before i answered. "Well, we won't make it today." Everyone gave a collective sigh. "We keep going this way..." I pointed northeast. "And by nightfall we'll reach a clearing, and we'll camp out there."

Tigress nodded and said, "Alright then. Let's get moving."

Later that night.

Gods above!

Never in my life have I ever wished I were traveling alone! Once Chin opened his mouth, it got Tigress started, then Didi, then Viper, then Kira and then everyone else started arguing. And it didn't stop until we started setting up camp. Well actually all we did was start a fire, but it counts as setting up camp.

So now everything is quiet, the guys are fast asleep; once they laid their heads down, they were out. I was sitting with my back to a tree not too far from everyone. The girls were quietly chatting amongst themselves, I could hear every word they said, despite the fact they tried to speak as low as possible.

I wasn't listening...

I was thinking.

It was faint, but I was starting to get the same feeling I got when I first arrived to the Valley of Peace. It's that feeling you get when you feel like something really big is going to happen, but you don't know what. Last time I had that feeling I became the Dragon Warrior a few hours later.

This time it's different. I'm getting the same feeling, but this time it's more... foreboding. Something big is going to happen on this mission we're on, and I'm probably not going to like the outcome.

Bah! I'm probably just overreacting. It's my first mission for the Jade Palace after all. That's it, just nervous...

Yeah...

The girls conversation seemed to have ended, because they were all lying down and preparing for dreamland. Didi gave me a smile and a sink before closing her eyes. I have to admit, her flirting is kinda cute.

Tigress, however, didn't seem amused. She scowled and shook her head, then laid her head down. Soon snores, both sort and not so soft, could be heard in the little clearing. I looked around at said clearing and thought to myself _now this is feels right._ I always felt more at home out here and on the road than when I was staying at all my masters homes. At least until I got to the Jade Palace, now that feels like a home I would never want to leave.

Home.

Something I never truly had growing up. I've had places to stay, but never a place to call home. A place to always come back to, with people who care for me waiting... Sounds nice.

I smiled to myself, closed my eyes and let sleep take me.

 **Dreamworld**

 _I opened my eyes and looked around. I may as well have kept them closed, it was so dark it wouldn't have made any difference. But when I looked down at myself I looked like I was standing in the midday sun. Weird. I look like I'm in the light, but everywhere around me is in the dark... that can't be good._

 _"Hello." I called out, and was answered by my own echo. I took a step forward, and a soft thump echoed loudly throughout... wherever I am. I walked. Straight ahead toward… nowhere. As far as dreams go this is pretty boring. While I walked I turned my head left and right, trying to find something, anything in this darkness._

 _Suddenly a figure caught my eye, it seemed to be far away, but who could really tell here? I made my way toward the figure and the closer I got, the more I could tell the figure was a wolf._

 _And female._

 _I wasn't going to lie, she was absolutely beautiful. Her fur was like starlight, her eyes were as blue as the summer sky. And her clothes would make the Empress envious._

 _As I closed the distance between her and I, she smiled. It wasn't a flirtatious smile, but rather a warm, caring smile. Now that I see her up close, it feels like I'm in the presence of someone…_

 _Divine._

" _Uhhh, hi."_

 _Really? That's all I could say?_

" _Hello Hiro."_

 _Her voice… I couldn't even begin to describe it. All I could say was that her voice gave a feeling of safety and silent strength an-_

… _._

… _._

 _She knows my name…_

 _Ok. I've never seen this woman before, and she know my name. Well I an in the dream world so it doesn't seem that weird. But then again this dream is unlike any I've been in before._

" _How do you…?" I asked. She answered before I could finish._

" _I've known you, and watched over you for all your life Hiro. But I can no longer just watch anymore."_

" _Why? How do you know me?" This is getting too weird be a dream._

" _Like I said, I've known you all your life, and I've wanted to speak to you for a long time." She stepped closer, her eyes looking up and down, examining me._

" _What stopped you?"_

" _Too many things in the way. And the timing never seemed appropriate." She looked over her shoulder, like she heard something behind her, or like she was expecting something to jump out of the darkness that surrounded us. "my time here is almost up." She began to fade away._

 _And I began to panic. If she has known me all my life as she said she did, what else does she know? Does she know where I'm from? Does she know where my Mother or Father is? Are they still alive? Why was I left at the Orphanage?_

" _Wait! I have questions!"_

 _She just kept smiling as she faded into nothingness. "Your questions will be answered the next time we meet, which will be at the near end of this journey."_

 _And she was gone. Suddenly I felt very alone. And scared._

 _So, I did the one thing I could think of._

 _I woke up._

Real world

I shot straight up. That was without a doubt the weirdest dream ever. Or was it a dream? That woman. Never even got a name out of her. What worries me is that she said she knew me. But how? Had she been spying on me all my life? And what was that feeling of divinity emanating from her?

I need to clear my head. If memory serves, there should be a small stream not too far from here. I got up and walked to the little river, it wasn't far, just a short walk. About four minutes from the camp.

When I walked away from the fire, I couldn't help but notice how dark it was. I looked up... It's cloudy. Well, that explains that. No matter, I still know where I'm going. I just started hearing the stream about a dozen paces ago.

When I arrived to my destination, I knelt down took a handful of water and splashed my face. I didn't think it would do anything to help me understand my dream, but at least it was refreshing.

"Something bothering you?" A voice said behind me.

I whipped the hanbo out of their holsters and got ready for a fight. I turned and faced... Tigress.

I sighed in relief and chuckled to myself. Is it just me, or are things making me a little high strung?

She stood there, one eyebrow raised and nodded approvingly. "Nice reaction. A little over dramatic though."

I said nothing, I put my hanbo back and knelt back down in front of the stream. An instant later she knelt down next to me. She didn't say anything she just knelt there waiting for me to speak.

We sat there in silence for a few minutes, then I decided to speak up.

"Had a weird dream." Was all I said. She nodded, not saying anything, she just waited. "There was this woman in it." I continued.

Her eyes narrowed, and I couldn't help but notice the hint of venom in her voice. "Who was she?" She asked.

I have her my most honest answer. "I have no idea." Hey, it's the truth.

"How can you have no idea?" She asked, starting to sound hostile.

"I just don't. Besides, it was only a dream. At least I think it was."

"You mean you don't even know if you had a dream or not?" Now she was starting to sound skeptical.

"That isn't what I said." I snapped getting a little annoyed with her attitude. "I know I had the dream, I just don't know if it was a dream or something else."

She exchanged her expression of anger with one of confusion. At least I think it was confusion, honestly it was too dark to tell. "What else could it have been?" She asked.

"Premonition?" I suggested.

"Of what?"

"Beats me."

"You think it's something to worry about?"

I thought about it for a second. The woman from my dream didn't give off an aura of hostility. Rather she seemed a little concerned. About what? I have no clue.

"It might be something to worry about, but not yet." I cross that bridge when I get to it.

"Alright then let's-" The clouds finally rolled away, letting the moon's light fell upon the forest, and myself.

Tigress froze, her mouth hanging open, staring in complete shock...

At my glowing right arm.

If you don't remember this I'll explain it again. Whenever the black markings on my body are exposed to moonlight they start to shine. It looks like when the moonlight reflects off the water's surface, sort of like a shimmer. At least that's the only way I could explain it anyway.

That's not the only thing the moon does to me. It also heals any injuries I might've gotten that day. Why this happens, I have yet to find out.

So far there were only two people who knew about my arm. The late Grandmaster Oogway, and the current Grandmaster Shifu.

Now we can add Tigress to the list.

"H-h-how..." She tried to say.

"Don't ask. I won't be able to answer." I lifted up my right arm so she could get a better view. Like with Oogway and Shifu I was expecting fear from her however, also like with Oogway and Shifu, her eyes became filled with wonder. She reached out at started to caress my arm.

Her hands went up and down my arm, trying to figure out how I was doing this. Her hand then went sliding down my arm, over my wrist and into _my_ hand. I couldn't stop myself, I closed my fingers around hers.

She lifted her eyes to meet mine and for the second time in twenty-four hours, Tigress and I were lost in each other's eyes. And I don't think either of us wanted it to end. But it did. Tigress was the first break eye contact. Instead she focused on my hand that was in hers.

"I was in an orphanage too you know." Wow... never would have expected her to tell me that. "All the kids, the adults... they all thought i was a monster." I felt myself tense up. How could anyone call the most amazing person I've ever met a monster? "Shifu saved me from all that, he helped me control my strength, the same straight that everyone had feared." She never took her eyes off my hand until she asked me...

"How did you feel with it? How did you get over how they treated you as a child?"

I squeezed her hand and gave her a small almost sad smile. "In a way, I never did. I could close my eyes and I could still see how they hurt me." Memories of my time at the orphanage came flooding back. Memories of pain, of being put down, of being bullied. But with those memories came one of my escape, others of my travels and of the kind people I met along the way.

"But I moved on, and I'm still moving on. To look to the past is to turn back on the path you walk, so I just keep going straight ahead."

She smiled. That rare genuine smile that makes me... wonder what the hell I'm talking about. I mean, come on. There is no way someone like her would be interested in someone like me, even if I am the Dragon Warrior...

Right?

Either way, it is nice to see that smile.

"That's a great way to put it. Who said that anyway?" She asked me, still smiling with her hand in mine.

"I did." I answered returning the smile.

"Did what?"

Tigress and I dropped each other's hand and put a little distance between us. We then turned to see Viper grinning like a Fox at us. "So what are you guys up to?" She asked.

"Nothing!" I answered almost too quickly. "Tigress and I were just... talking. Right, Tigress?"

"Yeah, just talking." I don't think Viper's buying it. She still set there with that grin on her face.

"Well, don't you guys think it's a little late for 'talking'?" She asked. We both leapt to our feet and started for the camp.

"She's right, we got a long trip through the canyon to look forward to." I said on my way to the camp, both girls right behind me. Viper shuddered when I mentioned the canyon. Seriously, I'm starting to think they're blowing this whole thing out of...

Wait.

Why didn't Viper say anything about my arm?

I looked back up at the sky to see clouds once again rolling in front of the moon.

Well, ask question, get answer.

We got back to the campsite and returned to our original spots. Files was out almost instantly. Tigress however, looked at me and we gave each other one last smile before falling asleep.

Next day, Tigress's P.O.V.

"Maybe we should have risked the Yangtze river." Was all I could say as i laid eyes on the entrance to the Migong Canyon. It was looking in the mouth of a giant vicious monster, sharp jagged rocks protruded from the sides of the canyon walls. There were paths that dropped into bottomless pits, and there were unstable areas where the wrong step could be your last.

But that wasn't the most dangerous part of the canyon, and it wasn't why everyone was so afraid to go in.

The canyon was a giant maze, more often than not once you went in, you would never come back out.

Hiro, however claimed to have done just that, on a few occasions.

"I thought we already agreed that the river would be too dangerous." Hiro said next to me. He then started to sniff the air. "Doesn't seem like anything has changed." I heard him say under his breath.

"Yeah, we'll I think the river would be a safer choice." Chin stated his unwanted opinion. Please don't let him start another argument, my head is still recovering from the last one.

"No one asked you. And the rest of you, relax. I said he get you guys through, and I will." Hiro seemed to have no problems with the canyon, maybe we have a chance after all. I turned to the team and shook my head a little.

Cranes knees shaking could be heard echoing off the canyon walls. Mantis was twiddling his pointy dealies (we didn't know what else to call them) nervously. Monkey and Viper were shaking as they stated into the place that was a source of fear for even the most powerful of masters.

Chin and his team looked like they were about to pass out from fear of the place. Can't say I blame them the stories they have for this place aren't very nice. Some legends say that the gods carved the canyon out of the earth and used it as a prison for mortals whose wickedness knew no bounds. There they would wander the many twists and turns of the natural made until their deaths.

Like I said, not nice stories.

I gulped silently. "Alright Hiro, you're up." He gave me a reassuring smile and went first into the Migong Canyon. And one by one we all followed.

I hope he knows what he's doing.

 **A/N. Hey guys I'm baaaack! Sorry I've been gone so long, I've had so many distractions, and a whole lotta personal stuff to get through. I'm gonna try to update sooner next time, cool?**

 **Ok as usual, comment, review, tell me how I'm doing. But also like usual be honest.**

 **Peace.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Kung Fu Wolf: Rising of the Moon**

Chapter six: Like the back of my hand

Hiro's P.O.V.

Twenty minutes in and nobody has said a word.

After all the talking and arguing that happened on the way here, the silence is somewhat eerie. I had everyone line up in two rows, side by side. Spreading out would put them in the 'danger zone' as I like to call it. There were a few complaints from one or two of the Sapphire Palace masters, but a quick glare from Tigress put an end to that real quick.

I looked back to check on everyone to make sure we didn't lose anyone. It's really easy to get lost in this place, and the last thing i need is to go searching for some lost fool.

Standing right next to me was Marcus, and behind him was a line of the masters from the Sapphire palace, we're gonna call it the Sapphire line. And behind me was the Jade Palace gang, we're gonna call it… you know what Jade Palace gang sounds just fine. And… yep everyone is present and accounted for.

Hmm…

How did that come about? I get the "present" part, it's the "accounted for" that confuses me. Because whenever I hear the word "accounted" I think of those miserable old people who count all the rich peoples money because they're just too damn lazy to do it themselves. Seriously, can't everyone just say "they're all here" it would be so much less confusing… or is it just me that gets confused? Or maybe-

"Hey Hiro, how much further?"

Hmm?

Whoops! Almost missed the turn here. Sure glad someone decided to speak up. I turned down another path and everyone followed me like a mother duck and her young. I'm not gonna lie, I had an overwhelming urge to start quacking, maybe it would get a few laughs. I looked over my shoulder again to see everyone looking at me, waiting for my answer.

"Well, if we were going in a straight line; we'd be out of here in a couple hours tops. But remember this place is like a maze, we pretty much gotta go all over the place before we get out of here."

That brought everyone down in a snap. They wanted to get out fast, hell so did I. Just because I know how to get through the canyon doesn't mean I like it. But this is the safest, and I use that term loosely, route available to us right now. If we weren't in a hurry we would be taking the scenic route. Maybe even visit a few places I've been, people I've met, my old masters… would be nice to see all that again.

"So… how much further?" Kira Ni asked again. Once again I had everyone's eyes on me.

I sighed to myself and tried to remember the last time I went through this canyon…

 _Flashback. Six years ago._

 _Whew… almost out._

 _I sat down to rest for a bit, and leaned against the only, and I mean ONLY part of the canyon wall that didn't look or feel like a stoney thorn bush from hell. How long has it been? Let's see… it was early afternoon when I first entered Migong Canyon, and the sun is going to set in about an hour or so. So… four… five hours? Yeah that sounds about right. Now that I think about it, I'm probably setting a new personal record here. I think the first time I went through here I got lost for at least three days. When I finally got out and saw the next town I ran straight for the nearest restaurant and-_

 _Dammit! What keeps digging into my back!? The surface of the canyon wall, like I said before, was smooth so I reached behind me and pulled out a pair of two-and-a-half foot long short staves; my hanbo. Gifts I had gotten from the monks of a temple I had passed by._

 _Yeah, monks. Really nice people too. See what had happened was I just happened to be passing by after I left the previous village when I had finished my apprenticeship in metallurgy. And trust me, their temple had seen better days. I asked them if they needed any help and they told me that they had all the materials they needed to make the repairs, they just didn't have the expertise to make said repairs. So I offered my assistance._

 _In exchange for making the repairs to the temple, the kind monks offered me shelter and food, which I accepted gratefully. It took a few days for me to get the temple looking nice again, but as my carpentry master once said "Rushing through your work always leads to half-assed results." So I took my time and, I have got to say if old man Xian Du could see my handiwork, he would be weeping in joy and bragging about his old apprentices accomplishments until the day he died._

 _Once the repairs were done the monks were so grateful they gave me a pair of hanbo as thanks. Oh and a little bit of money and food. I tried to turn those down but the monks were insistent, so I gave in._

 _I smiled as I looked down at the hanbo. While I was at the temple I had only seen one monk use these weapons, the same one who presented me with the hanbo I now hold in my hands. He told me that he felt I would be able to use them quite easily. Said that he had a gut feeling that I would have a talent for them._

 _I looked up and-_

 _Oh damn!_

 _I've been zoning out to long, sun's gonna set soon._

 _So I got up and took the final few turns that led out of the Migong Canyon._

Present time

"About five hours, if we don't stop." I said turning back around and continuing to lead everyone through the gorge of certain death. Needless to say a chorus of groans and complaints sounded off behind me. Now I am really starting to lose my patience. "And the longer you guys complain, the longer we stay here." And that little bit of reasoning was enough to motivate everyone to move their collective tails.

I looked up to the sky to look for the position of the sun, we do not want to be stuck in the canyon after dark. You think the place is dangerous now, try walking around without being able to see where you're going; you'll be dead before you even realize what happened. I looked up, but in vain. The cloud cover made it impossible to see the sun. We need to move faster.

"So… how often have you been through this here canyon, anyways?" I looked to my right to see Marcus walking beside me.

"About four or five times. Why do you ask?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Just curious is all. And I really don't much care for getting lost, I need to get to my sister and fast. Ya hear?"

I nodded. "Not to worry my friend, I know the Migong Canyon like the back of my hand." I smiled and lifted my right hand as a visual display. He smiled back, my reassurance probably gave him the confirmation he needed that he need not worry.

Speaking of 'worry', there's one thing that's still bothering me…

"Y'know Marcus, you've never told us who're the bandits responsible for you and your sister getting separated." I really hope I'm not being too nosey, but this is something I'd like to know before anything big happens.

His smile vanished rather quickly. That's never a good sign.

"It's said that they were all former soldiers of the Chinese army. They call themselves The Bandit Brigade." He explained with a almost hateful look on his face.

…

The Bandit Brigade?

Well that's not good.

The Bandit Brigade were all former soldiers of the Chinese military, led by the man who was said to be China's greatest swordsman; Zhou Feng Gu. The story goes that they were abandoned and left for dead by the Emperor, so they renounced their oaths to fight for and protect the people of China and became one of the largest, and most feared gangs China had ever seen.

Now, you're probably wondering why doesn't the Emperor do something about it. Well, one day I was at a bar in the Imperial city, and some of the guards came in to get drunk. Sure enough, the topic of an army of bandits came up, and it was revealed (rather loud and obnoxiously) that in order for the Emperor to send an army after the bandits, he'd have to remove them from the country's borders or from the royal palace. And according to the royal advisors neither idea was acceptable.

So unfortunately nothing has been done about The Bandit Brigade yet. But who knows, maybe that will change soon.

We came to a fork in the path and without thinking I took the path on the left, which lead to another turn to the left. We turned again and stopped. Now I want you to imagine a river. A river with a path of stepping stones leading from one side to the other.

You got that image in your head? Good.

Now imagine there's no river, but there's still the stepping stones, and the bottom of the trench is one hundred and twenty feet down.

"Well, I'm turning around and taking the river, see you guys later." Chin started to walk away, everyone else was staring out into the abyss with open mouths.

"You know the way?" I asked. Chin stopped and growled at me. "Didn't think so." And I hopped from the edge and over each pillar like I had done it a hundred times. Once I got to the other side I turned around and called out, "Alright one at a time. Who's next?"

Chin stepped forward and cracked his knuckles. Was that supposed to make him look intimidating? Is it supposed to make him look cool? I'm veering off topic here. Anyway, he steps up, takes a few deep breaths and I'm thinking 'quit stalling'. Then he ran full speed and jumped every other pillar and landed right next to me. He gave me that cocky look…

Then he took three steps and slipped on a rock, landing face first into the stone pathway.

Everyone on the other side were howling with laughter, Tigress was chuckling. Zoyo… just stood there. I tried not to laugh… and it wasn't easy. I was shaking, but I wasn't laughing. Chin got up, and started growling and grumbling as he tried to get his nose to stop bleeding.

Next Monkey hopped over with Mantis on his shoulder, no problems there. Crane flew over carrying Viper in his talons, no problems there. Then Di Foon, Zoyo, Shu Lan, Marcus, no problem, no problem, no problem, no problem. All that was left was Kira Ni, and Tigress. kira went first, and this is where I started to get concerned. Why? Well Kira isn't exactly small, I'm not saying she's big… but she's not small either. She hopped on over and made it to this side, no problem.

Guess I worried for nothing.

Last but not least was Tigress, she hopped on over.

Hop, hop, hop, crack!

These pillars never had a whole group of people of varying sizes hop across them at once before, maybe that was the reason. Maybe they were worn down. I don't know what the real reason was, but I did know this; Tigress was in trouble.

The pillar began to fall, and my feline friend with it. I panicked. "Tigress, move!" Me and the rest of the Jade Palace gang shouted. Tigress leapt from the falling pillar and landed on the next one… just as it was hit by the falling pillar. Now that is just messed up! As if this wasn't dangerous enough already! She jumped again, and again as fast as she could, finally she made it to the last pillar…

But the last falling pillar got there first.

As her foot landed on the last pillar it began to fall away…

She lost her footing...

She fell…

Tigress's P.O.V.

This wasn't the first time I've fallen from a high place, but all those other times had been of my own free will. I slipped on the falling stone, so I wasn't able to jump to safety. As I fell all I could think of is that I never got to spar with Hiro.

That last regret brought up the memory of Hiro fighting with Chin. His attacks were powerful, his defence was unbreakable, and just once… I wanted fight him. Now it seems like I'll never get the chance.

I closed my eyes and waited for the inevitable.

Two seconds later I felt something clamp onto my wrist. I opened my eyes to see Hiro keeping a death grip on my wrist.

He saved me.

Because of all of my training I've never needed saving before, so this was a new feeling for me. I'm certain if it were anyone else, I would have felt indignant. Grateful… but indignant. But as I looked up at Hiro I felt no indignity, what I felt wasn't grateful- it was more than that. He didn't hesitate for a second to throw himself off a cliff to save me. I'll admit it… not out loud or anything, but I was touched.

"We're taking a different route on the way home. Sound good?" Hiro said with a strained smile. I chuckled and shook my head at him. Here we are in a life or death situation, and he's already talking about the return trip. This wolf is something else.

"Yeah, I'm going to hold you to that." I looked up to see how far we had fallen. Vipers upper body was wrapped around Hiro's ankles. She looked down and smiled.

"You alright Tigress?" She asked. I nodded and kept looking up. Monkey was next, hanging on to Viper by her tail. Then it was Chin hanging on to Monkey by his tail. Then Di Foon was hanging on to Chin's ankles, her face was locked in concentration trying to keep her grip. She then looked over her shoulder and said, "We've got her. Pull!"

I kept looking up to see Kira on the edge of the cliff holding on to Di Foon's ankles. She then pulled us up one at a time, once everyone was on solid ground all we wanted to do was rest. But that hope was short lived as we all heard Hiro say, "Take two minutes to catch your breath, after that we're gonna keep going."

"Are you kidding me!?" Chin shouted.

He got up and got right in Hiro's face. I got to my feet to get ready to help my friend if he needed it. Everyone else got up to get ready to separate the two males in case things got too rough.

"We almost had someone fall to her death, and now you want us to keep going?" Hiro didn't even flinch. He just stared at Chin, his face a blank mask of neutrality, even as Chin kept yelling in his face. "Next time you want to take us on a suicidal route, why don't you lead us into an active volcano, you damned idiot!" He then lifted his hand to illustrate a point, but Hiro moved… and he moved fast.

Before Chin could even react, Hiro had one hand on Chin's arm, and the other hand on the back of Chin's. Once he had the hold locked in Hiro applied pressure, trying to make the tips oh Chin's fingers touch the underside of his forearm. Every time Chin so much as twitched, Hiro would apply more pressure, if Chin kept moving around like that he would end up with a broken wrist. So he showed a little bit of intelligence for once, and stopped moving.

Everything got quiet. Hiro hasn't been at the Jade Palace for very long but we have _never_ seen him lose his cool like this.

Hiro then spoke, his voice deathly quiet…

"Chin… I have dealt with your arguing and complaining up to this point. But no more. If I hear… one more thing out of you… that pisses me off… I will snap. Your arm. In half."

Wow.

"Do you understand me?"

Chin began to nod frantically, his eyes were clenched shut from the pain, he never looked so pitiful.

Hiro put more pressure on Chin's wrist. "Look me in the eye and tell me."

He did. "I understand."

And with that Hiro let go.

My stomach felt like it was fluttering, my heart was racing, and there was a shiver going up my spine. Seeing Hiro act like this had gotten me all excited... and I don't understand why. But I know someone who might. My eyes landed on Viper.

My snake sister and I are gonna have to have a little… girl talk.

 **A/N Hey guys I'm Back! Again sorry it took this long, but my inspiration isn't as fast as it used to. Anyways you all know the drill. Just please leave a review to tell me how I'm doing, good reviews help me with the inspiration thing.**

 **See ya next time.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Kung Fu Wolf: Rising of the Moon**

**Chapter Seven: The way out**

 **Tigress's P.O.V.**

I'll never say that I don't trust my friend Hiro's judgment, but next time we go out on a mission, I'm gonna decide on the route.

The path we were supposed to take ended… into a bottomless pit.

"So… there's no way around?" I asked.

"Nope." Hiro replied.

"This is the only way?" I inquired.

"Yep." Hiro confirmed.

"And the only way to get across is by scooting along the dangerous ledge along the wall?" I asked, slowly losing my temper.

"Yeah, that's pretty much it. Why?"

I lost it for a second. "Next time _I'M_ gonna decide on the route!"

He lifted his hands, defensively. "Ok, ok. Calm down, this little is actually a lot safer than the stepping stones from before." He stated. No one seemed convinced. But then again, I don't really think they were listening. They were all looking into the pit, trying to guess how deep it may be.

"How so?" Oh I couldn't wait to hear how he considered this to be _safer_.

"The chances of the ledge breaking apart is very slim." He explained.

I'm still not convinced. But Hiro is the only one here who successfully got through the canyon, so I guess I still have to trust him. Not that I ever stopped.

"Ok, we will all go one at a time, who wants to go first?" Hiro said, smiling to one said anything, no one stepped up, they just stood there. Hiro's smile faded, then he sighed to himself. "Fine, I'll go. Like I said it is a lot safer than the stepping stones and- what's wrong with her?"

I followed Hiro's gaze and saw Di Foon standing at the edge of the pit, her eyes wide and her body shaking. Kira Ni and Shu Lan got on either side of her and tried to calm her down. "She doesn't do well with heights and ledges, dude." Shu Lan explained.

"How come we didn't notice that before, at the stepping stones?" I asked.

"I kept my eyes closed." Di Foon said. I was absolutely shocked at her carelessness, but also impressed at the skill required to achieve such a feat. "Hey Hiro, can I cross with you?" She then asked.

"Uhh, well I've got no problem with it. You want me to hold your hand or-" Hiro stopped in mid sentence as Di Foon threw her arms around Hiro and latched herself onto him. Hiro started to blush and made his way to the side ledge.

A wave of rage washed over me as I saw Di Foon snuggle against the Dragon Warrior. I felt a growl rise from deep within my throat as she started to purr and nuzzle her face into my wolf friends neck. I haven't been this angry since Monkey tried to dye my fur blue, and I still don't know why I'm getting so mad! Once Hiro got halfway over, I noticed he started to blush profusely, even his fur was starting to turn red. I looked closer at Di Foon and saw that she was pressing her chest into Hiro's.

When I get my hands on that-

"Tigress! You need to calm down!"

I looked around and somehow I never noticed all the girls were trying to hold me back. I took a few deep breaths and everyone let me go. Viper stayed by my side. "Tigress what's wrong? You've been acting very strange lately." I looked across the pit to see Hiro and Di Foon had made it to the other side, and that the snow leopardess was no longer clinging the wolf.

I narrowed my eyes at Di Foon… I hated her. I don't know why, but I did. Watching her latch onto Hiro like that… I just wanted to-

"Tigress, what is going on?" Viper drew my attention away from them, if I watched them any longer I think I might do something I'll regret later.

"I don't know, can we talk later? I can't, for the life of me, figure out what's going on." If anyone can help me understand what's going on with me it's Viper. "What happened just now? I zoned out for a minute." I asked, curious how I never noticed why I was being held back by three other women.

"Well… you were growling and snarling. Then you started going after those two with your claws out, we tried snapping you out of it, but in the end we had to hold you back." I blinked. That's never happened before. Sure I've gotten irrationally pissed off before, but I've never had rage blackouts before. I looked back over to the other side of the pit to see Hiro guiding Marcus along the ledge.

Hiro…

Di Foon may have been the cause of my sudden burst of rage, but she wasn't the source of what I was feeling… Hiro was. I started to shudder, nothing like this has ever happened before.

What power does he have over me?

"Tigress!"

I snapped out of it as Hiro called my name, it seemed to calm me down a little. "Come on, you and Viper are next." He said, waving us over. I shook my head and stood up, Viper slithered up and wrapped herself around my waist like a belt. I started my way across the ledge, keeping my back against the canyon wall. Surprisingly the walls were smoother compared to the rest of the canyon, but the ledge was narrow even with my heels against the wall, my toes would dangle over the sides. I had to be more careful this time, if I fell it wouldn't be just me going down; Viper would be coming along for the ride.

Thankfully nothing happened and Viper and I made it across. She slithered off me and went to join the other who made it across, most likely when I had zoned out. The only ones left were Shu Lan and Kira Ni, the former made her way to the ledge and started making her way across.

"Hey, what's up?"

I turned around to see Hiro standing there. He had a concerned look on his face as he started looking me up and down. "You know I'm starting to worry about you, anything you wanna tell me?" He asked me. It was so kind of him to be worried about me, but I can't tell him about what's been going on with me until I've figured it out for myself.

"It's nothing." I looked back to see that Shu lan had made it across and now it was Kira's turn. She surprised us all when she, instead of walking the ledge like the rest of us, began to climb across the wall.

"Hmm." Hiro mused. "Never even considered that." I raised my eyebrow at him and shook my head, as I chuckled and walked toward the others. "What?" He said defensively. This is when I noticed something about Hiro; he's smart and clever, but he can be oblivious.

Kira made it across. "So Hiro, any other crazy obstacle we should know about?" She asked with friendly sarcasm. Her question brought a smile to Hiro's face as he walked to the front of the group.

"Just one more, and we're home free."

 **Hiro's P.O.V.**

"And here we are." I said as we made it to the cave. "word of warning; the only safe place to be in here is on the path, everywhere else there are spikes and razor sharp stones." I turned and faced everyone. "On the bright side, once we get through we're almost out of the canyon!"

"Do you have any torches?" Crane asked.

"Don't need them." Everyone's jaws dropped. "I placed all sorts of spices throughout the cave so I could navigate by my sense of smell."

"Huh, that actually sounds like it could work." Tigress said after a little thought.

"I assure you it does work. I've been through here a few times and trust me it gets easier every time I go through." I started for the cave entrance until I was stopped by Tigress.

"Hiro I know you can get through the cave, but some of us can't. Is there another way around?" I sighed to myself. Seems to me that someone asks that same question every ten minutes. I know I'm exaggerating right now, but still, if I have to explain something more than once, it gets aggravating.

"Okay, I'm going to explain it one more time. The path we've taken up to this point, and from this point to the end of the canyon is the only. Way. Through. There are no other shortcuts, there are no other paths, there is just one way." No one looked amused at my ranting, especially Tigress. But hey, I'm getting tired of explaining the same thing over and over again.

I took a second to breathe and looked over to the west, the sky was starting to get red. We need to get out of here before it gets dark.

"Hey Hiro!" Marcus called to me.

"What is it Marcus." I asked trying to be patient, but my fuse is starting to burn short.

"well, I got some oil, rags and sticks. Can't we use them to make torches?" I was surprised, this guy has planned ahead.

"Great thinking Marcus. Anyone got any flint?" I asked. No one from the Jade Palace said anything. Kira on the other hand…

"I do!" She said, holding up a set of iron and flint. Good, looks like we'll be out of here quicker than I thought. We made three torches, lit them, and started our way through the cave.

Now even with the torches, it was pretty dark in there, so I had told everyone to stay close. But now I'm betting everyone is wishing we could go through the cave without the torches. Why? Because it looked like we were walking through the mouth of some gigantic demonic beast. Now some of you might be wondering how I made it through this cave with no light? The answer is very simple; very slowly. But I did leave a few drops of blood behind during my first run through here, so… yeah.

Anyway, back to here and now.

The march through the cave was entirely uneventful, until we got near the end and heard an agonized yell.

"AHHH!"

I whipped myself around. "What happened!?" I demanded.

"I'm alright." Came Tigress's voice. "I just bumped into one of the spikes, got my leg good." I saw her sitting in the middle of our little group. I sniffed to confirm what she said. _sniff sniff_. Yep, she's bleeding. Judging by the intensity of the blood smell, she would live through it, but if we don't stop the bleeding, it could cause major problems.

"Make a path." I said, and everyone cleared out of the way. I knelt down beside her and inspected her injury. As I thought, it wasn't life threatening, but something had to be done about it. "Anyone got a medical kit?" I looked around at everyone, they all shook their head. Dammit. "Wait… there's a stream a little ways from the end of the canyon, I can treat her there."

"I told you I'm fine." She tried standing up, and I pulled her back down. She crossed her arms and scowled, I gotta admit it made her look cute. I took off my bandana and tied it around her leg, a little above where she got poked, making a makeshift tourniquet.

I looked her in the eye. "Can you walk." I asked .

She had an indignified look on her face after I asked. "Of course I can." And she started to get up… only to fall down again. I leaned in close and whispered in her ear, so low no one could hear me.

"The way I see it you have two options, either I carry you on my back or in my arms. I'll let you decide." At that moment she looked like she wanted to kill me, thankfully there was a plus side to that; I could now outrun her if it came to it. She took a deep breath and realized she couldn't win here. So she whispered so quietly, I almost didn't hear her.

" _back."_

So I moved in front of her and she climbed on my back. I turned and saw everyone staring at Tigress and I wide eyed and slack jawed. It was understandable of course, someone could live for a thousand years and never see the amazing Master Tigress swallow her pride like this. "If I hear about this ever again, I'm gonna break some legs!"

All mouths closed simultaneously. I chuckled and shook my head. "That goes for you too wolf!" She knows I don't like being called that, but seeing as she is in a what she sees as an embarrassing position, I'm gonna let it slide just once.

"Alright, let's go." I gave Tigress the torch to hold and we made our way out of the cave without any other problems.

We made it out of the canyon with an excited round of cheers. I think I might've broken my last record by twenty minutes. But no time to dwell on that, Tigress's leg needs bandaging. I turned off to the side with everyone not far behind. We came up on the stream I had mentioned back at the cave and I set Tigress down.

"Does it still hurt?" I asked, as I rolled up her pant leg. The blood was starting to dry out, good thing too, it would stop the bleeding.

"No, it doesn't. But thanks for looking out for me." I smiled

"What're friends for?"

She smiled back. I could never get enough of that smile. I wish she could smile like that all the time. But like almost everything good in my life, it isn't meant to last.

"How is she?" Viper came slithering up with a concerned look on her face.

"She's fine, I just need to get some things… hey guys! Wanna help me out with something?" I called out to everyone. "Viper, can you watch over her for a bit?"

She nodded, and I made my way to the rest of the group to give them some jobs to do.

 **Tigress's P.O.V.**

"So what did you want to talk about.". I looked around and once I was sure we were alone I spoke.

"Something's been wrong with me ever since we left the Jade Palace. And I don't know what's going on."

Now she was concerned. "What is it? Are you sick?" She started to panic because I almost never get sick.

"No that's not it. At least I don't think it is." I said thinking of a way to explain it to her.

"Well then, what's wrong?"

"It's Hiro."

She then exchanged her look of concern with a look of confusion. "Hiro? WHat's wrong with him?"

I could never ever lie to Viper, we've been telling each other secrets ever since she came to the Jade Palace. So I told her everything. "I just don't understand what's going on, it's been happening ever since Hiro defeated Tai Lung. Every time he's near me I start to feel short of breath, I feel a shiver run up my spine, my heart starts racing. And when Di Foon starts getting all clingy with him, I just want to rip her arms off." I looked at Viper after telling her what I was going through, and lifted an eyebrow when I noticed that she was smiling slyly at me.

She giggled and said, "Well, I have a theory about what might be going on with you, but I'm going to need to ask you a few questions."

"Okay, ask." I was a little afraid on what she was going to ask. What if it turns out I really am sick? But then, why would Hiro be the cause of it?

"First, I want you to name three things you _hate_ about Hiro." After she was done speaking she stared at me intently.

I started thinking about it. What were three thing I hated about Hiro? I know for a fact that a while ago I would've said that one thing I hate about him was because he stole the Dragon Warrior title from me, but now I realize that if I was unable to beat Tai Lung then I have no business being the Dragon Warrior.

So I can't use that. What do I hate about him?

It took me about five minutes of thinking to realize…

"Nothing. I can't think of a single thing to hate him for." Which was odd because there would be at least one thing I would hate about something. With Monkey and Mantis, it's their prank wars. With Crane it was his constant yammering about thing no one else cared about. With Viper it was when she'd try to make me act more girly, never gonna happen. And with Master Shifu it was because he pushed me so hard in my training, and all without a tiny bit of praise.

"You sure? Not even his stubbornness?" She asked me, getting that smile again.

"Nope, I actually find it to be inspiring. I like his whole 'never give up' attitude."

She nodded then spoke again, "Alright, now I want you to name three thing you like about Hiro."

A couple things came to mind, I already spoke of his tenacity, so I put that to the side. "Well he's brave, kind, skilled at a style of Kung Fu that I had previously thought could not be mastered. He's a great cook, he's fun to talk to, and he's just an amazing person. I'm really glad to be his friend."

Viper smiled and nodded. "You gave me six reasons there. Now I want you to close your eyes and imagine you and Hiro sitting under the Sacred Peach Tree and just talking." I did and a smile tugged at my lips. "Okay, now picture… Di Foon…" I lost the smile. "Walking up to Hiro and planting a big kiss on him." I snarled and tensed up so hard my body started to convulse.

"Ha! I knew it!" I snapped out of it and gave Viper my undivided attention, my daydream about tying Di Foon to a rock and throwing her into a river would have to wait.

"What is it? Am I sick?" I asked, now it was my turn to panic.

"Oh, you're sick alright… _lovesick_." I said nothing. Me… in love… with Hiro? Never once did I ever think it possible. When Viper and I were younger and the topic of boys came up, I never really paid any attention. And when I got older I was so focused on my training, I never thought about falling in love or anything like that.

'You're joking with me right." I asked, yeah, it had to be a joke I couldn't have fallen for the Dragon Warrior…

Right?

"Okay, let's think about this… You can't think of anything bad about him?

I shook my head.

"You like spending time with him?"

I nodded.

"You like him as a person?"

I nodded again.

"And you get hostile whenever another girl, has any prolonged contact with him. If that's not love, it's pretty damn close to it." I couldn't speak. She was right. Maybe I am in love, but…

"What do I do now?" I asked.

"First you need to find out if Hiro feels the same way. No sense in getting your hopes up for nothing." Yeah, I don't think I'll be able to handle that. But that begs the question...

"How do I find out?"

"Go on a date with him of course! Now here's a few things you should know before you go on your first date."

I listened intently as she explained to me what I would need to know for winning Hiro's heart.

 **Hiro's P.O.V.**

Clear night tonight. Strange seeing as it was cloudy all day today. I looked down at my right arm to see it glowing, it would make the job of looking for the herbs I need to help Tigress a lot easier.

After I set Tigress down earlier, I sent everyone out to look for some supplies. Monkey, Mantis and Crane's job was to look for firewood. The Sapphire Palace masters job was to look for some of the edible plants that grew around here. And my job was to look for medicinal herbs for Tigress's leg. I looked behind me and noticed a faint pinprick of light where I left Tigress and Viper.

Good. They got the firewood. one less thing to worry about. Now where are the… Oh here they are. One of the chef's I learned from had a wife who was a doctor, so along with another style of cooking, I learned a few medical skills.

The plants I was picking would help fight any infection that might've gotten into Tigress's leg, and it would help it heal faster. I picked enough to have a small handful then turned to make my way to the campsite.

"So… it is as I thought." I looked up to see Zoyo standing in front of me. He snuck up behind me without making a sound, I couldn't help but be wary.

"I thought you were going to get the food, Zoyo." I slowly shifted into a more defensive stance.

"The others found some berries, and some fruits nearby, they're all back at the campsite." I started to walk over to the others.

"Well, why don't we join them?" I said as I was about to step passed Zoyo, until he grabbed my glowing arm.

"In a moment. We need to talk." I eyed him suspiciously. What could he possibly want to talk about with me? Then another, more disturbing thought came to mind…

Why wasn't he shocked about my arm?

That made me more worried that when people stared open mouthed at my arm.

"What has she told you?"

What? She? Who was he talking about?

"What are you saying?" I asked, getting ready for a fight.

Zoyo moved his hands to his black straw hat and removed it, and for the first time I saw his real face.

He was a black furred fox. He was still young probably in his mid twenties. His eyes were a piercing red, and there were markings on the left side of his face…

They glowed like the markings on my arm… only his markings glowed a sickly purple.

Species aside… he was just like me!

I was so shocked I almost couldn't speak… almost.

"Who are you? What are you?" I wanted answers, and I was willing to bet all the gold in the world that he could give them to me.

"First you must tell me what she has told you." This again?

"What the hell are you talking about?' Who was this 'she' he's talking about? Tigress? Viper? Who?

"I just call her the Lady in White."

The Lady in White?

"You mean the wolf woman from my dream?" There is no way he could be talking about her.

"The very same." Okay, so I'm wrong. It's happened before. "What has she told you? Answer me this and I will answer any question you want as long as it is within my liberty to answer."

I took a minute to remember my dream. "She said that she had been watching over me all my life and that we would meet again at the end of this journey."

Zoyo got an inquisitive look on his face. "She must have not had enough time to explain everything to you. Anyway as promised I will answer your questions, but remember there will be some questions I will not be able to answer."

I narrowed my eyes. "Why not?"

"It is not my place."

First question that came to mind was one I asked earlier. "Who and what are you?"

"My name is Zoyo Li. I am a trainer of the half bloods." That only raised more questions, but Maybe I had a limited amount of questions that he could answer.

"Who was the woman from my dream?"

"She is a very powerful spirit and that is all I can say on the matter." A spirit? Why would a spirit be visiting me in my dreams?

I lifted my right arm. "What's going on here?"

"Those are the markings of one who can walk between worlds. You are very special Hiro." I already knew that. Was nice to hear it though.

"Why do they only glow in the moonlight?"

"Because your strength is linked to the moon. Now I'm afraid that's all the information I can give you." He said as he placed his hat back on his head.

"Wait! I have more questions!" He ignored me and turned to walk away.

"The rest of your questions will have to wait, until you have met the Lady in White face to face. Now that I've answered some of your questions, perhaps you could do me one small kindness?" He turned his head and I was able to see one of his crimson eyes beneath his hat. "Let's keep this conversation between us, shall we?"

I thought about it. Oh, why not? It's the least I could do. I followed him to the campsite. By the time we got there almost everyone was asleep, all except for Tigress.

"You've been gone awhile." She mused.

"Just… wanted to make sure I had enough herbs for your leg." I lied… I _lied_. I suddenly felt terrible, lying to one of my best friends. I tried to take my mind off my guilt as I set to work fixing up her leg. Washing out the wound, making the salve from the herbs, washing my bandana, and using it as a bandage. "Your leg should stop hurting by morning." I said to her smiling.

She smiled right back. "It feels better already." I got up to get the last pieces of fruit that was left. It was a long day and I was starving.

"Hiro?"

I turned around with a apple in my mouth to see Tigress just about to fall asleep. "Thank you, Hiro."

I smiled again at her. You know, it's times like this that makes me care less about all the questions flying around in my head, and more about the people in my life.

" _By your journey's end, you will have the answers you seek."_

By the journey's end, huh?

I looked down on Tigress's sleeping form, and smiled once again.

Hope it doesn't end too soon.

 **A/N I think I set a new word record here! Well, like, fave you know the drill. Just please review.**

 **See ya!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Kung Fu Wolf: Rising of the Moon**

Chapter Eight: It's good to be back.

 **Hiro's P.O.V.**

The sun was rising, and I was the first one up.

For some strange reason, no matter how late I stay up the previous night, I always wake up just before sunrise. Makes my late night thinking a pain the next morning.

I wanted to take a few minutes, while it was still quiet, to think of our next plan of action. Going through the Migong Canyon, while a dangerous plan, saved us the two and a half days we would have lost taking the northern roads around the canyon. Next, we're going to have to find some decent food, a few supplies, and a doctor to look at Tigress's leg.

I think I know just the place. And if everyone starts waking up, we'll be there late this afternoon.

I saw some movement out the corner of my eye, I turned to see Tigress stirring. Looks like she's gonna wake up soon.

I couldn't help but smile as I watched her, it seems that this would be the only time you would see her look so peaceful. Her eyes slowly fluttered open, and she lifted herself up to a sitting position with a small yawn. She then turned her head at me slightly once she noticed me staring at her.

"Morning." She said, and brought herself to her feet. She then lifted her arms above her head and stretched the stiffness out of her body.

"Morning." I replied. Once she finished stretching, she walked over and sat down next to me. "How's your leg feeling?" I asked, nodding at her injured leg.

She smiled. "Honestly, I had forgotten about it entirely until you mentioned it."

"Oh, sorry." Maybe I should've kept quiet about it.

"Don't worry, it doesn't hurt at all. You did such a good job tending my leg that I forgot I injured it in the first place."

I smiled at her praise. "Glad I could help."

"One thing I don't understand though." I lifted my eyebrow, and waited for her to explain what she didn't understand. "You said you got kicked out of the hospital where you said you were learning some medical techniques, right?" I quietly nodded. "So where did you learn first aid?"

"A few years ago I had my third apprenticeship under a chef, not the same chef three times by the way, and his wife happened to be a doctor. So I learned a few tricks there."

Tigress nodded, but then got a look of confusion. "So… why did you get kicked out of the hospital anyway?"

I chuckled a little at the memory. " I wouldn't call it being kicked out, more like chased out." She lifted her eyebrow. "I, uh… used a bunch of bandages to dress myself up as a mummy, almost gave a couple of people heart attacks, naturally none of the doctors were happy." Tigress was shaking, doing her best not to laugh.

"Why?" She asked through her giggles.

"I was trying to get some laughs out of everyone. People there were sick and hurt, so I thought I'd lighten the mood… plus it was funny as hell." The images of the doctors chasing me out ran through my head, it brought a smile to my face.

We both sat there, watching the sun steadily rise over the horizon, I began to debate with myself on wether or not we should wake the others, and how to do it. Doing it nicely was the first thing that came to mind, but it wouldn't be very entertaining. Doing something loud came next, it would probably wake everyone at the same time, but then I really don't feel like dealing with anyone's bad attitude today.

What to do? What to do?

"So what's the plan for today?"

Tigress looked at me expectantly, waiting for an answer.

I nodded over at the road, that was not far from our camp. "We take that road and we'll arrive at a town in about six hours or so."

She slowly nodded. "You know that town?"

"Very well." I answered. "It was the same place I learned carpentry. We'll get a nice welcome there, they're good people." I looked behind us and noticed no one was looking like they were getting up anytime soon. "I would really like us to get moving soon, but it might not happen for a while."

Instead of saying anything, Tigress brought her forefinger and thumb to her mouth and let out an ear piercing whistle.

I was pretty sure I mentioned that wolves have sensitive ears, but either Tigress didn't hear me or she forgot. Either way, it hurt. I clapped my hands over my ears, but the damage had already been done.

Her eyes widened at the collateral damage she had just caused as everyone jumped awake. "Oops. Sorry Hiro." She really did look sorry, I couldn't stay mad. It wasn't that bad anyway, I could still hear, so no harm done.

"Just warn me next time you're gonna do that." I said as my ears started to ring.

"What's going on man?" Shu Lan asked rubbing her eyes.

"We're moving out. Let's go." Tigress said, and she made her way to the road. I snapped my fingers next to my ears to make double sure that everything was still working up there as I followed her.

Like I said back at the Jade palace… sensitive ears can be a disadvantage.

 **Tigress's P.O.V. Five hours later.**

The walk for the past five hours was unusually quiet. Even Chin hasn't spoken, not since his last altercation with Hiro. The memory of the incident brought a small smile to my face. However, at this point the silence was starting to be uncomfortable. And I wasn't the only one who felt that way.

"So Marcus, what's your story?" Monkey asked.

At least someone decided to break the silence, I just hope this isn't another question that shouldn't have been asked, like when Mantis asked Hiro about his time in the orphanage the other day. Mantis may be a great master, but he has almost no tact.

"My story? What do you mean?" Marcus asked.

"you know, what happened to you before you came to China, where you're from… that sort of story." Mantis clarified. I must admit I'm a little curious about him myself.

"Well, like I said before, I was from a land far away. The place is mostly jungle, the kind of place you don't really see around here." We all had our attention locked on Marcus, a lot of us from the Jade Palace, although I can't speak for Hiro, liked to hear about tales about lands beyond China's borders. "I lived with my family in a city made of stone, wood and gold, my mother was the high priestess of the healing temple. Everyone, everywhere in the Republic would come on down to see my mother when they were ill."

"The Republic? What's that?" I heard Hiro ask. Good question.

Marcus looked back at the wolf. "It's our government, The United Jungle Republic. We all used to keep to ourselves a long time ago, dozens of different species living within their own…" He paused, most likely looking for the right way to say what he meant. "... Tribes, I suppose would be the word I guess. Then one day the leaders from each tribe got together and decided it would be best if we all joined forces, and thats the Republic was formed."

"So why'd you leave?" Hiro asked. Marcus slowed to a stop. His face became masked by sorrow. "If you don't want to say, you don't have to." Hiro said quickly. It's good to know that now there is another guy in our group who know a little about consideration.

"Naw, it's okay." He took a deep breath. I'm beginning to guess that this might be a sore subject for Marcus. "My home was destroyed in the war."

No one spoke. I groaned inwardly, this was just like when we asked Hiro about his past. I'm starting to think the the men of the Jade Palace have a bad habit of asking questions they shouldn't.

"You see, what had happened, about ten… twelve years ago, a neighboring nation decided that they were going invade us. So they did, the first attack came without warning. We barely had enough time to rally our defenses."

Hiro then asked the question we all were thinking. "Why?"

Marcus shook his head and sighed. "No idea. They never gave us a reason as to why they wanted to attack us. Maybe it was 'cause they wanted the land, maybe they wanted the gold they thought lay beneath our city, who knows."

"Was there any gold?" KIra Ni asked. One of these days her love of gold is going to get her into a lot of trouble.

"If there was, we never found any." Marcus answered her before getting back to his story. "Anyways, whenever they attacked us they'd have to try to get over the wall and believe me that was no easy task. The wall surrounding the city was around fifty feet thick and three times as high. But they kept on coming, and this went on for ten years."

Ten!? Yikes.

"Did you fight?" Di Foon asked.

He nodded slowly. "For the last three years, I did. I was a member of an elite group called the ShadowKnights. We were the 'last resort' squad. Only sent in when we were needed." I like them already. Actually I would have liked to meet these warriors.

"Unfortunately, the invaders managed to break through the wall. Once they got through we didn't stand a chance. I tried to get home to help my family evacuate, but I was hit by an arrow in my shoulder, I passed out for a while after that." He brought his hand up to his left shoulder and started rubbing at a single spot. I guess that's where he got hit.

"Then what?" Monkey asked. Everyone was anxious to find out how the story ended. I only wished it had a happier ending.

"When I came to, the city had burned to the ground. I rushed to my home hoping that maybe my family would be alright. When I got there, my home had burnt down, there were charred bones in front of the rubble that was once my home. I was overrun with grief at the loss of… everything. Then, I heard some rustling somewhere beneath the rubble that surprisingly hadn't burned, I started sifting through the wood and found my baby sister. So I took her away from the war torn lands and promised her that I'd protect her always."

There was a loud sniffling sound behind me. Everyone was crying over Marcus's sad tale. I'll admit if i could cry, I would have. Hiro walked up to Marcus, the fur on his face matted down with tears, and put a hand on the panthers shoulder. "I promise you friend, we're gonna do everything we can to get your sister back."

Hiro's promise seemed to bring a smile to Marcus's face. "Thank you Master Hiro, you're good people."

Yes, he is.

"C'mon, we're almost there." Hiro started walking again.

 **Hiro's P.O.V.**

"Hiro! Good to see ya again, m'boy!"

My old carpentry master embraced me like a long lost son. "Good to see you to Mr. Xian Du. How've you been? Still busy?" I asked. Being the only master carpenter in the village he often gets a lot of requests for repairs, and home building so he's almost always busy. When I was learning from the old pig, he brought me along and I helped him out. His style of teaching was 'learn by doing'.

"Hey honey, come out here! Look who's back!" Mr. Xian Du yelled, and a middle aged pig lady came out, and when she saw me, she cleared the distance between us and put me in a death grip bear hug.

"Oh Hiro, it's so good to see you again!" Mrs. Xian Du has always been a good person to me. She was never able to have children of her own, so she and her husband had treated me as their own child. And I was more than happy to treat them like they were my parents.

Good people. Enough said,

"Good to be back Mrs. Xian Du. How have both been?" I asked. I haven't seen either of them in years, so naturally I wanted to know what was new.

"Oh, things have been exactly the same as it was since you left. But I don't think I could say the same about you, _Master_ Hiro.' She put a little extra emphasis on the word master.

"Congratulations by the way kiddo." Mr. Xian Du said. Kiddo was a little nickname he had for me back when I was learning under him. "Now why don't you introduce us to your friends over there."

Well damn, I almost forgot about them.

Better not let them know that.

I introduced the group of masters to the old couple. And I could tell Mr. and Mrs. Xian Du liked them already.

While they were talking, I took a moment to take in the sights. A flood of memories came rushing back. I was only thirteen when I first got here and I only stayed three to four months, but they were a good three to four months. This is the first place I learned to create something. This is where I learned to fix what was broken.

And it was here that I learned how kind people can be.

"Must be nice."

I looked to the side to see Tigress standing next to me. "Hmm? Oh, yeah. Its great. I missed this place."

She smiled. "So this is where you learned to be a carpenter huh?" She asked me. I nodded. "Your old carpentry master seems like a nice person."

I chuckled a little at the good times I spent here as Mr. Xian Du's apprentice. "Oh yes, he was a great teacher, caring, patient. A good man." Then a thought came to me. "Would you like a tour?"

She smiled big for a second and then tried to hide it. "Sure, why not?"

I nodded, and turned to the others. "How about it, you all up for a tour?" I asked.

Viper spoke a little too quickly. "Oh it's okay, you two run along. We're going to look for a hotel." She had on that extra sweet smile that gave me the feeling that something was up. Monkey took a half step forward. "Sure I'd like a tour- Gack!"

Vipers tail wrapped around Monkeys neck and she said softly yet sternly in his ear, "No… we're looking for a hotel." She then turned her attention to me and Tigress. "You two go on, we'll meet up with you later." And she gave a wink to Tigress.

Okay now I know something is up.

But I shrugged it off thinking I'd worry about it later.

"Okay then, let's go then." I headed off to the villages marketplace with Tigress walking close next to me. I may not know what was going through Vipers head, but at least it got me alone with Tigress.

Thank you my reptilian sister.

 **No one's P.O.V.**

In the middle of a old ruined temple that had once been the home of the old Shaolin monks, a hoard of armored men gathered, celebrating their most recent act of villainy. The group that was know as The Bandit Brigade divided their most recent plunder amongst themselves. A short rat with a battle axe slung across his back stepped up to one lone warrior who observed his underlings, as they argued and fought on who would get certain treasures.

"Another profitable day, eh boss?" The rat said, looking up at his leader.

Zhou Feng Gu, a tall, thin mountain cat, had once been a captain of the imperial forces, the soldiers who served under him said they would follow him into hell because of his courage. But when they felt that they were betrayed by the Emperor, their loyalty remained with their captain.

"Yes Fong, soon we will have enough gold to buy an army to rule this country. Soon we will have our revenge on the bastard who abandoned us and left us for dead." A cruel smile came to the rat's face.

"Oh, I can't wait for that day to come boss.'

Zhou Feng Gu swept his gaze over all the ill gotten treasure that had filled the once sacred halls. "Is all this gold from the raid on the trade line between China and Japan?"

Fong nodded. "Yes boss, some is even from one of the refugee ships that tried to get away from us." He laughed cruelly.

" _One_ of the ships?" Zhou asked.

Fong knew that tone his leader was using; he was not happy.

Fear suddenly gripped the rat. "Uhhhh…. Yes?"

"So another ship got away then?" Zhou asked. Fong started to shake.

"We- we can make for it boss. In fact I heard about a chest full of gems going through the south that would put us ahead of schedule."

Zhou looked down at the terrified rat. "Oh Fong, it's not about the money… it's about doing a job right the first time."

Fong began to break out in a cold sweat. "Yes, you're absolutely right. I am deeply sorry for my incompetence. Please forgive me boss."

"Very well." Zhou pulled the sword from the sheath at his hip, and severed the rat's head from his shoulders. Fong's head rolled into the crowd of men who jumped away at the head of their fallen comrade.

"All is forgiven." He said nonchalantly.

Zhou snapped his fingers and a pair of his soldiers came up to remove the rat's corpse from his sight.

"Bao Zhi!"

A muscular water buffalo walked up to his captain. "Yes sir?"

"Go to the southern villages and find these gems Fong spoke of."

Bao Zhi bowed to the mountain cat and he, and two dozen other soldiers left to follow their leader's command.

Zhou looked down at the pool of blood where Fong's corpse had been.

"At least he proved himself useful to me on last time."

 **A/N Hey I'm back! Story's getting more interesting huh? Ok then, you guys know what to do, I'm hoping for a ton of reviews for this one.**

 **Also I'd like to give a quick shout-out to Calvin For coming up with the voice cast for the OC's of the story. Great choices, loved it dude!**

 **Well that's all I got… take it easy.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Kung fu Wolf: Rising of the Moon**

Chapter Nine: A fatal flaw

 **Viper's P.O.V.**

"I swear Mantis, you start complaining one more time…" I growled as we walked (in my case, slithered) down the road looking for a hotel. Mantis spent the last couple of minutes complaining about the fact that the rest of us didn't follow Hiro and Tigress for the tour of the town.

"I just don't get why we couldn't go on the tou- gak!" That was all he managed to say before my tail wrapped around his tiny body. I warned him.

"I just want to find the hotel, and hopefully get a decent night's sleep." I said, which was mostly a lie. At least three quarters of it was. Mostly, I wanted to give Tigress some alone time with Hiro. For her to realize that she might be in love with someone was like Monkey and Mantis growing up; absolutely improbable. Possible but very unlikely.

I just hope Tigress doesn't mess this up. She might be a great master, but she is very inexperienced when it came to matters of romance. She seemed relieved when I told her she could try to win Hiro over at a pace she was comfortable with. She still seemed nervous about the whole thing though. During our talk last night I told her I would held her along the way, but for the most part, she was on her own.

I wonder how things are going with those two right now.

 **Hiro's P.O.V.**

"How's your leg feeling?" I asked Tigress while we were walking around.

She sighed and said. "Hiro this is the seventh time you've asked me that question and this is the seventh, and last, time I'm going to answer; my leg is fine. Now please stop asking." I chuckled a little.

"Sorry, just wanted to make sure. The caves in the Migong Canyon isn't exactly the best place to get hurt, especially if you don't know your way out."

She gave me another one of her rare smiles. "Well, then I suppose it was a good thing we had you with us then, isn't it?" She paused for a second. "Did you ever get hurt in that cave?" She then asked.

I frowned a little at one of my most painful trips through the canyon. "Yes, it was my second round through the canyon. In fact, I could still smell my own blood when we went through the caves." Tigress raised her eyebrows at what I said.

"What happened the second time you went through the canyon?" She asked, sounding curious.

I chuckled again. "Uhhh, well the second time I went through the canyon I forgot any thing to use for torches, so I tried to get through the canyon by memory. Needless to say, I had more than a few holes poked in me before I got out."

"Wow, how bad was it?" She asked.

"Well, I decided to go through slowly, so I survived. If I had rushed I most likely would have impaled myself." I said, waving at a few old friends of mine.

"Glad that didn't happen. I doubt we would have made it through the canyon." She said. I noticed as she walked she had a slight limp to her step. I think I just decided on where I'm going to take her first on this little tour.

We had a little time left before we got there so I kept the conversation going. "If I hadn't been there, would you have even taken the Migong path?"

She giggled a little. Gods above, she has a cute laugh. Kinda wish she would laugh more often, a smile looks better on her face than a scowl. "Probably not, I think we would have gone on a more safer route." She paused, her smile faded. I lost my grin myself. Seeing her unhappy like this… it's something I don't like seeing. "But now that I think about it, I don't think we would have had the chance. Without you, who would've beaten Tai Lung? I couldn't do it, none of the Five could do it, not even Master Shifu could do it."

I said nothing, suddenly I couldn't stop thinking about what might have happened if I wasn't there. I know Tai Lung would have never been able to understand the secret of the Dragon Scroll, so would he have destroyed everyone and everything out of pure rage? I definitely wouldn't want to find out.

"We would've been lost without you Hiro, I'm so glad you didn't listen to me that night." That night? Which one could she be talking about. While she was on medical restriction we had a little habit of talking in the kitchen at night. She'd tell me about her life at the Jade Palace, and in return I'd tell her about my travels around China. It was really enjoyable.

"Uhhh, what night? We talk almost every night." I asked.

She nodded. "True, but I was referring to your first night at the Jade Palace. When I told you to leave." Oh, that's what she was talking about.

"You're not still beating yourself up about that, are you?" I asked. I know people make mistakes, but there's no need to dwell on them. That never solves anything. Sometimes it makes things worse.

Her frown got deeper, and if I didn't know any better, I'd say she was on the verge of tears. "I just can't get over how cruel I was to you, all because of some damn title." See, if it weren't for me *ahem* dropping in unexpectedly, Tigress would have been the Dragon Warrior, a couple of people thought that's how it should have been, but fate had other plans.

I sighed a little. "You really need to forgive yourself for that."

"How can I? I am a master of kung fu and yet I acted like a spoiled child that night." She exclaimed, hanging her head low, obviously ashamed for her choice of words on that night.

"Because it was the reason I stayed."

She looked at me with a seriously confused look on her face. "What do you mean?"

I smiled at her. "At first I did want to leave, but what you said to me in the hallway of the barracks actually gave me the determination to stay. I get a little defiant when people try to order me around." I looked Tigress right in her eyes. "And you were no different."

She looked a little stunned. "So, if you think about it…" I continued as we made our way to our first stop. "... _You_ are the reason I'm here now."

She smiled again at what I said, only this time there was a kind of sparkle in her eyes that almost took my breath away. "Well, like I said; I'm glad you didn't listen to me." SHe said as she kept walking. "But don't make a habit of it. Understood?" She said in a playfully stern way.

We continued on our way until we came upon the first place I wanted her to visit. It was a mid-sized building with one word written over the door.

" _Doctor."_

She gave me a flat look and said in a flat voice. "Seriously? This is the first place you wanted to take me?" I nodded and grabbed her by the arm as she tried to walk away.

"The tour will continue after you let the doc take a look at your leg." I stated calmly. Her eyes narrowed. I don't know if it was because she doesn't like doctors or if it's because she thinks that I don't believe her when she said her leg was fine. "Please?" I asked, giving her a pleading smile.

Tigress rolled her eyes and walked inside.

The waiting room was filled with empty chairs when we walked in. It was quiet, and honestly it made me a little uneasy. "Hello!" I called out. Behind the door leading to the examining rooms, or whatever they're called, there was a sudden commotion; clattering and a surprised voice.

I suppose they weren't expecting any visitors.

The door burst open to reveal a pretty looking mountain cat wearing a doctor's white robe. "Sorry about the wait, how can I- Hiro!?"

I smiled at my old friend. "Hello, Ming Li. How've you been?" Instead of answering me she ran up and threw her arms around me in a big, spine crushing hug.

 **Tigress's P.O.V.**

Are you kidding me? I've spent the last thirty hours having to deal with Di Foon putting her hands on Hiro, now I have to deal with this!? I felt a growl rise in my throat, and I did my best to keep it as silent as possible.

The doctor, Ming Li I think Hiro called her, let go of Hiro and began talking a mile a minute. Saying how it's been so long, and that she's missed him so much, yadda yadda yadda.

I cleared my throat to remind them I was still here, because it seems like they forgot. The doctors attention then turned to me, and when it did she looked starstruck. "Wait a minute, are you… Master Tigress?" She asked almost breathless.

I nodded, then Hiro introduced us. "That's right, Ming Li meet Master Tigress. Tigress meet my old friend Ming Li." I gave a little bow to the doctor, who was practically shaking with excitement.

"It is an absolute honor to meet you Master Tigress. I'm actually a really big fan of yours." I raised one of my eyebrows, not really surprised. Everyone in the Furious Five had fans, of course my fans were a little bit hesitant to reveal their admiration for me. At least the men were anyway.

"Well then, I'm sure you'd be surprised that Master Tigress needs a quick check-up." Hiro said beside me. The doctor's eyes widened.

"M-m-m-master Tigress need medical attention here?" She stuttered. She looked like she was about to faint. I looked over to Hiro, who was grinning like some crazy guy.

"Its nothing serious, just a small injury. Hiro actually did a good job taking care of it last night." I said trying to downplay the whole thing. Suddenly the doctor got a sly look on her face.

"Oh, last night. Hmm?" I felt heat rush to my cheeks. This is getting out of hand. I looked over at Hiro again, and he looked like he was about to start rolling on the floor laughing.

"Whatever you're thinking, stop. Tigress got hurt going through the Migong canyon, and-" He was cut off.

"What were taking her through the Migong Canyon for!? I told you before, you're going to get yourself killed going through that deathtrap. But you don't need to bring anyone else to the spirit world with you." She said, completely unhappy with Hiro.

The grin left Hiro's face, and he started to get defensive. "Hey! I got them through the canyon just fine."

The doctor gave Hiro a flat look and said, "If that were true, then why does Master Tigress have a injury on her leg?" Ok, this has got to stop. Before they started going back and forth I spoke up.

"It was my fault." Both sets of eyes turned to me. "I wasn't looking where I was going and as a result, I was injured." That seemed to calm things down a little.

The doctor sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Well, whatever the reason, why don't you follow me to the back so we can see what the extent of the damage is." She opened the door to the examining rooms. I nodded and made my way through the door. "You can wait out here Hiro. I don't want you anywhere near the medical supplies."

Hiro had a rather indignant look, but took a seat anyway.

We walked into a room that had the words 'room one' above the door. "Please take a seat." Doctor Ming said, gesturing over to the examination table. I did as she requested and we started with the basics; heart, lungs… you get the idea. "Ok then, everything else seems to be just fine. Now let's take a look at that leg master Tigress." I lifted my pant leg up to reveal the piece of cloth wrapped around my leg.

Doctor Ming's eyes narrowed at my leg. "Is that Hiro's bandana?" She asked.

I nodded. "It was all we had on such short notice."

Doctor Ming raised an eyebrow at me. "You had no first aid kits?" I shook my head. She sighed and started taking off the bandana. "Well, let's take a look then." The salve that Hiro made had done its job well. The wound was already starting to close, and there was no sign of infection. "You said Hiro took care of this last night?" She asked me.

I nodded. "He did a good job, huh?"

The doctor looked a little impressed and began to clean the salve off. "Honestly I never would've thought that Hiro would have any kind of medical experience after the trouble he caused in the hospital in Nanchang." I smiled, remembering the story Hiro told me earlier.

"You know about that?" I asked as the doctor started putting new salve on my leg.

She chuckled. "Everyone in the province has heard that story. Now unless he's the one who's bleeding, doctors are very hesitant to let Hiro set one foot in their hospital." She said as she started wrapping clean bandages around my leg.

" _I only did it once!"_

We heard the voice come the waiting room, the doctor had a look of surprise on her face. "How does he _do that?_ " She asked.

I chuckled a little. "He has really good ears." I explained. She gave me a look that said that she didn't buy it, so to prove it I said, "Hiro, would you please stop listening in our conversation?" as if he was in the room with us.

" _Then stop talking so loud!"_ Said Hiro from the waiting room.

Doctor Ming had finished bandaging my leg, so I got up and walked out of the room with her right behind me. "Hold on Master Tigress. I think Hiro is going to want this back." She said, holding the bandana Hiro used to treat my leg.

I took it. "Thank you. What do we owe you?" I asked as we walked into the waiting room. Hiro was sitting in the far corner from the door where the doctor and I had just walked through. He stood up once we walked in.

"You came to me for help Master Tigress, that's payment enough." She said. So I nodded my head, gave her my thanks and Hiro and I walked out the door.

 **Hiro's P.O.V.**

We made our way through the town so I could make good on my promise to take Tigress on the tour. As we walked I wanted to ask Tigress something, but I knew if I asked she might get upset… and by 'upset' I mean 'utterly irritated'. But against my better judgment I asked anyway. "How's your leg?" She gave me a rather irritated look, like I thought she would, but then sighed and smiled at me. Honestly I wasn't expecting that.

"The doctor said that if it weren't for you, she would have had to amputate my leg." Say what!? "I'm kidding Hiro. My leg is fine. You should see your face." Well I thought she was being serious. I may not have been around the Jade palace for long but I don't normally see Tigress joking around. "By the way, here." She held out the bandana that I used as a bandage for her leg. I was about to take it from her when…

"You know what, hold onto it for me."

"Why? Don't you want it back?" She asked me.

"I want you to keep it… for luck." She gave me a strange look as if to say 'Huh?' I explained my reason. "I've noticed that if you hold onto something that helps you out, it'll bring you good luck."

I took the bandana from her and tied it around her neck, so it looked like a necklace. I thought for a second I saw her cheeks turn red, but with her orange fur I could have been mistaken. Once again, my eyes had locked with hers and I finally noticed how close we were.

Those eyes. It seems that every time I look into those eyes nothing else exists; there's no 'here', no 'now'. There are no problems that need to be fixed, no criminals that need to be put in their place. All there is… is just a sense of peace. A feeling that everything is right with the world.

Just me and her.

"Come on! Come on!"

A couple of pig children ran past us and we both got reacquainted with the real world. We stepped back away from each other, both of us blushing profusely. And this time I could see her blush, it looked like her orange fur was being dyed red.

Tigress cleared her throat, trying to compose herself. "What's going on with them?" She asked gesturing over to the younglings running towards the center of town… Which was kind of strange to be honest.

"I don't know, nothing really _interesting_ ever happens around here. Let's check it out!" I said, hurrying to follow the pig kids. An idea popped into my head. "And once we're done with that why don't I take you to _Zen Wok_? It's a nice little restaurant near the middle of town."

She caught up with me, and said. "I'd like that. You're buying though." That was the plan anyway.

We got to the town center to see a group of Imperial rhino soldiers, armed and prepared for a fight. There were about ten of them and they all surrounded a… chest? A big box? Call it whatever you want. Yeah, this is unusual for this town

"You all need to step away from the area! We are authorized to use force if necessary." The soldier wearing the armor of a captain shouted to everyone. I think that this is my cue to step in.

I made my way through the crowd and faced the captain. "Whoa now, there's no need to get hostile here." After I said that seven spears were pointing right at my face. "What did I just say?"

"Who are you wolf?" The captain asked.

I made a quick and respectful bow. "I am Master Hiro, the Dragon Warrior." Shocked looks were suddenly plastered on the soldiers faces. The captain gave a nod to the ones holding spears and they stood down. Then all ten, including the captain, bowed down to me.

"Please forgive us for the misunderstanding Master Hiro. Unfortunately we can't be too careful with what we're guarding."

My gaze turned to the chest that lay in the center of the group of soldiers. "Out of sheer curiosity, what would you happen to be guarding?" I asked. The group of rhino soldiers huddled a little closer around the chest, judging by how they're acting whatever is in that box must be very valuable. The captain seemed a little reluctant to talk about it; he nervously started to look around at the crowd of people.

Maybe I ought to help him out.

I turned to the crowd and spoke in a loud voice. "Alright everyone let these guys do their job. I'm sure you all have other things to do other than stand around here." Maybe it was because of my new status as Master, or maybe it was because the people here trust me but everyone dispersed from the area without complaint. Now the only ones who were in the town center were the soldiers, Tigress and myself.

"So, what's in the chest?" Tigress asked, who was now back to her more serious self.

The group gave her a respectful bow, and the captain spoke in a low, 'keeping-a-secret' voice. "We were given orders by the Emperor to transport these imperial treasures from the Bao Ding vaults, back to the imperial city." Whoa, I've heard of the Bao Ding vaults, it's like Chor Ghom prison, but with treasure. And a single piece of the treasure that are said to dwell within the vaults are said to be a king's ransom. Which made me think…

"A little underpowered are we?"

Think about it. A box full of priceless imperial treasure and only ten soldiers guarding it? Seems like easy pickings to me.

"We thought the same thing, but we don't question our orders." The captain stated with authority. Perhaps he ought to.

"And you said your orders came from the Emperor?" Tigress asked. Yeah, good question. This sounds a little too strange to me.

"Well, It was sanctioned by the Emperor. The orders that were given to me has the Imperial seal." The captain held up a scroll as a visual aid.

"Sounds a little to good to be true, don't you think?" I whispered in Tigress's ear.

"Definitely, it seems way too convenient." She whispered back. The feeling of her breath on my ear gave me chills, but I ignored it.

Had to worry about the treasure thing first.

"You mind if we take a look?" I asked. He handed me the scroll and I held it out so Tigress could read it too, then I opened it. I've never seen a imperial scroll up close before, so I can't tell if it's authentic or not.

Tigress on the other hand had no trouble with that whatsoever.

"It's fake." She stated simply.

All the soldiers looked a little sceptical, but Tigress explained further.

"First, if it were real, there would be a lot more soldiers assigned to guard the chest. Second, the handwriting is too sloppy to belong to anyone who works for the Emperor. And finally, the 'royal' seal on the scrolls casing was crudely made; maybe with a cheap knife instead of the high quality woodworking tools that are used for the authentic scrolls."

Wow, she's good.

Now the captain was starting to look a little worried. "But why would someone fake an imperial order like this? He asked.

We never had a chance to answer.

A high pitched whistling sound filled my ears, and it got louder with each second. I looked around at everyone who was present, and no one else seemed to hear what I was hearing. I looked around trying to find where the sound was coming from.

I looked to my left… nothing.

I looked to my right… nothing.

I looked behind me… nothing.

I looked up… there it was.

I pushed the captain back and out of the way of whatever was coming. He landed on his ass, and the… projectile landed safely in the ground to my right.

It was an arrow, but who fired it?

"Damn, I missed."

We all looked at the western end of the town where a large group of men in rusted and mismatched armor stood. One in the front, a ram with a broken horn, held the bow that fired the arrow at us. Next to him was a large, and rather intimidating water buffalo stood holding a massive battle axe. Yikes! That thing could cleve me in two in one swing, best to avoid that.

"There they are, just as Fong said." The water buffalo said pointing at the box of treasure.

The ram next to him snickered. "I'm betting he wished he had stayed alive to see his plan come to fruition."

The rhino captain got back up and faced the… hang on, I'm still counting… erm, thirty-six, thirty-seven… forty men in front of us.

"Who are you, and what is this 'plan' you're talking about?" All ten of the rhino soldiers formed up in front of the box, while Tigress and I took our stances behind it.

The water buffalo gave us a skeptical look and said. "Don't you think it odd that you were escorting imperial treasures with such a small amount of protectors?"

"So I was right, those orders were fake." Tigress growled next to me.

"Good eyes." I said, meaning it in more than one way of course.

"Think we're gonna need some help with this?" I asked. Just to set the record straight, I'm not scared, I'm just smart enough to know when we're outnumbered.

"Don't worry, in a town this small, it won't take long for the others to get here." She said, matter of factly.

"You seem so sure." I mused

Tigress turned her head to me and smiled. "Trust me."

Oh, I already do Tigress.

"Oh, come on Bao Zhi! Let's kill them and take the treasure. The suspense is killing me!" A jittering hyena whined to the water buffalo, who rolled his eyes in annoyance.

I looked a little bit closer at the armor they were wearing and I noticed something… They all have the same insignia; a pair of daggers behind a feline skull.

Oh boy.

I know this symbol.

"Uh, Tigress, how long will it take for the others to get here?' I asked.

"Not long. Why?"

"Because these guys are part of the Bandit Brigade."

She didn't seem very worried about it though. And in a second, I found out why.

"Sorry we're late!"

I looked over my shoulder to see all nine kung fu masters and one panther swordsman poised and ready for a fight. Now these are my kind of odds.

The Bandit Brigade seemed a little unnerved at the sudden arrival of so many masters, however the water buffalo, i think they called him Bao Zhi, seemed to get a murderous glint in his eye. "You know, I was going to give you the option to surrender the jewels and return home with your lives… but now I've changed my mind. Kill them all!" He shouted.

They charged…

And so did we.

Have you ever been in a mass fight like this? If not let me tell you what it's like…

It's fast.

It's confusing.

And it's very unpredictable.

I took out my hanbo and swatted aside whatever weapon that was swung at me, and then I smacked around the people who were doing the swinging. Once they went down I looked over at… everyone, to see if anyone needed my help.

Mantis and Monkey were working well together; Mantis was using his nerve attacks to stop the bandit soldiers in their tracks,then Monkey would pull their underwear over their heads. *Sigh* only Monkey would have a finishing move like that.

Viper wrapped her body around one bandit and used him to fight his comrades. I think she called that move the "Puppet of Death".

Crane was using his opponents momentum to trip up, and throw them around. It still surprises me that he do things like that being as scrawny as he is… don't tell him I said that.

Di foon's style was more acrobatic than I thought, lots of jumps and flips, and lots of throws and joint locks. And I'm not sure if I saw it or not, but I think she winked at me a couple of times while doing it too.

Shu Lan moved a lot faster than I thought she could. the best way I can describe it, is that she was keeping her arms loose and swinging them around like a pair of whips. Whatever she hit, she hit hard.

Zoyo moved like a ghost; quick and precise. I think a couple of the bandits he was fighting lost consciousness before they knew what was happening to them. I think even I would have a hard time against him.

Kira Ni completely destroyed her enemies defenses, one punch was all it took to send whoever was unlucky enough to be in front of her flying. Remind me to never make her mad.

Chin used a spear shaft he commandeered to bring the pain on the bandits. I gotta admit he's good with a staff, maybe if he ever gets that pole out of his ass, he and I could compare notes sometime.

Marcus had his massive sword out and was swinging it around like… well, all I can say is that no one got near him without leaving something behind. Use your imagination.

Tigress was kicking ass the only way she could, with power, controlled aggression and very little mercy. I don't know what it is but there's something… sexy in the way she fights. Maybe it's the way she moves or-

Dammit Hiro, stay focused!

I shook my head to clear my thoughts and realized I was surrounded by at least seven bandit soldiers.

Time to get serious…

Time to put up the Lunar Sphere.

Three of them charged me at once with spears, and once said spears entered the Lunar Sphere, the spearheads broke off their shafts and found themselves embedded in their owners legs.

Another three came at me with axes, this time I moved first. Just as the bandits prepared to swing, my hands found several vulnerable spots. They were out before they hit the ground.

The last one came at me with a broken spear shaft. He charged me and swung…

A little beyond my Lunar Sphere…

And collided with my knee.

I dropped down to one knee. What the hell just happened? The bandit looked a little shocked as well, he couldn't wipe that 'did I really just do that?' look from his face. He then tried to follow up his last attack, but this one came within my arm's reach. As he swung the staff in a downward chop I grabbed his wrist to stop him, and thrust my palm deep in his gut, leaving a hand shaped dent in his armor.

I got back up to my feet, my injured knee was shaking. Unfortunately a few other bandit soldiers saw what had happened and decided to try their luck. And unfortunately for me their luck was good.

They kept swinging their spear shafts at me, normally I could block them or swat them away, until they aimed for my legs, then they got me every time.

This was not when I wanted to find out my kung fu styles flaws.

Another crack across my legs brought me down. I knelt there on one knee, both my legs were on fire. "Hiro!" I heard someone call me. I looked around to see Tigress trying to fight her way to me, but there were just too many bandits in her way. I kept looking around to see that everyone else seemed to have the same problem.

A dark chuckling brought my attention back to the group of bandits in front of me. They figured out my weakness, and they had no problem with exploiting it. Now they took out the swords that were on their hips and stalked toward me with malicious glee.

I better think of a way out of this mess, or I'd better get used to having no legs.

 **A/N.**

 **New word record!**

 **Sorry it took so long for me to update, there's been lots of distractions. Anyways like and fav and review.**

 **One more thing, I'm starting another contest! It's another "Draw Hiro" contest, only this time he won't be alone. What you gotta do is draw Hiro and Tigress together, draw them as friends or as a romantic couple. Got any questions, then don't be afraid to PM me.**

 **See ya next time!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Kung Fu Wolf: Rising of the moon**

 **A/N. Hey everyone! I'd like to take a minute to say to everyone who has favorited, followed and reviewed the Kung Fu Wolf series; it's because of y'all that I was able to get this far. Also, if you hadn't read it at the end of the previous chapter, there is another "Art Contest" going on now, the objective is to draw Hiro and Tigress. Got any questions? Don't be afraid to PM me.**

 **Another thing, along with the contest I'm also starting a little poll, because at the end of "Rising of the Moon" Hiro will have a new set of weapons, what will they be? I'm leaving that up to you.**

 **The choices will be at the end of this chapter, so without further delay, I present to you the tenth chapter of Rising of the Moon.**

 **Enjoy!**

Chapter ten: A Perfect Evening

Hiro's P.O.V.

Here's a good question for you; are there bad days…? or bad moments?

An example being, the first half of the day the sun was shining, everyone greeted you with a smile and you were about to ask the girl you admired out to dinner...

Then something comes along and screws everything up.

Some people experience a moment like that and say that their whole day has gone to hell. I think the people who think that way are a bunch of pinheads.

A single bad moment cannot ruin one's entire day. Neither can three bad moments.

Five bad moments… negotiable.

Ten or more… might count as a bad day.

But I believe that there is no such thing as a bad day, just bad moments.

At this point you might be asking yourself 'where is he going with this'?

Well give me a second and I'll tell you.

Today I made it back to the village where I learned to be a carpenter. It was nice and sunny, not a cloud in the sky. All my old friends smiled at my return, my old master and his wife especially. And after a certain Tiger had finished her visit to the doctor, I had planned to take her to a nice restaurant tonight…

Then things started to go downhill.

We had bumped into a group of imperial soldiers who were guarding a chest full of imperial jewels. Shortly after, a group of former soldiers, known as the Bandit Brigade came to steal said jewels, which led to a massive fight between the bandits, the guards and the masters. And to make matters worse, everyone found out that my Lunar Style has a pretty big weakness…

My lower body.

Everywhere from my knees down was fair game for the bandits, and believe me they took every opportunity to bring me down.

So now that we're all caught up let's continue.

I was on my knees in the town square looking up at the former soldiers who had once swore to protect this land and its people, my legs were screaming in pain. The bandits had replaced the staves they had for swords, which seemed to shine deviously… or maybe it was my imagination. They slowly stepped forward, wicked grins plastered on their faces which gave away their intentions. Their main objective may have been to swipe the jewels, but they seemed to feel like it would be a waste if they didn't kill a few people in the process… including me.

Dammit.

I need to think of something and fast, or else I'm going to lose my legs.

…

…

Hang on.

...

...

Alright, I think I've got an idea. Who knows, maybe it'll work.

But I've been wrong before.

I gingerly lowered myself to the ground, earning odd stares from the bandits and a few of the masters. "What the hell are you doing!?" I heard Chin yell. Huh, first time I've heard him speak since I almost broke his wrist. "Are you giving up, dog?"

Ohhh, he is going to pay for that… later.

I finally sat down, my legs still throbbing. I took a few deep breaths and tried to ignore the pain…

Then I tried something new.

You see, during my free time at the Jade palace, when I wasn't repairing the damage Tai Lung and I caused during our fight, I was working on ways to improve my Kung Fu style. For example, when using the Lunar Sphere absolute calm is needed; if I move around it becomes exceptionally difficult. Another example is that the Lunar Sphere is mostly a defensive technique, specializing in deflecting, blocking and dodging however it does lead to very effective counter-attacks.

Then there is the biggest problem, the Lunar Sphere mainly involves the use of the upper body, leaving my legs utterly defenseless. But you all should already know this by now. And there is no time to work out any rational solutions to this problem, so I got to think on my feet.

...Well, not really on my _feet_.

While sitting down I got in my stance which earned a few laughs from the bandits, and some worried looks from my friends. The first bandit came running at me, sword swinging, aiming for my legs. Only this time I was ready for it.

I took out one of my hanbo and knocked the sword out of the way, and buried my other hand deep in his stomach, and sent him flying headfirst into one buildings about twenty feet away (I'm definitely gonna have to fix that later).

It suddenly got quiet. The kind of quiet when something happens that puts everyone in a state of disbelief. At which point, you know everyone is thinking the same thing… "Did that really just happen?" I can assure you, it did. See, the plan is since the Lunar Sphere leaves my lower body vulnerable, I decided that the best way to get over that weakness is to take my legs out of the equation. And since I don't want my legs getting cut off, I figured that sitting down would be the best idea until I could come up with a long term solution. Hey, it's working so far.

In a roar of defiance, the rest of the bandits charged me, most of them anticipating the infamy of being the one who took down the Dragon Warrior.

Yeah… like I was going to give them the chance.

Once they got close enough I used my hanbo to either block, deflect or knock the weapons out of their hands, and with my free hand I crushed their armor with a few palm strikes making it difficult for them to breathe. Broke their knees with a few well aimed punches. Or used their momentum to throw them into their comrades.

Me suddenly bouncing back like I did seemed to give my friends some kind of boost, because they started to fight harder. Mantis moved with blinding speed and knocked a group of bandits out with his high speed nerve attacks. Viper wrapped herself around one bandit and used him to lay a serious beatdown on the others. Crane grabbed a few of the smaller bandits and flew up in the air and… dropped them. Not very stylish, but still effective.

Monkey and Chin worked together to become a whirlwind of fury, using their staves to knock whoever was unwise enough to get near them into la-la land. Another tag team was Shu Lan and Didi, who almost seemed to dance as they fought, them working together looked rather… elegant.

I almost started laughing when I saw Kira, she was now using one of the bandits as a club, swinging him around and sending his comrades flying. Zoyo effortlessly brought down anyone who was in front of him, the scary part was that it was hard to see how he did it.

I grabbed and twisted the wrist of one of the bandits who swung an axe at me when I started to wonder… _where's Tigress?_ A pair of bandits went flying past me on either side, I twisted around to see a beautiful female tiger covering me. "Interesting style, did you just come up with it?" She asked with a hint of playfulness in her voice.

I smiled at her. "Sure did. I think I'll call it the "Didn't See That Coming" style." Cause honestly who's is going to expect you to sit down during a fight? No one!

She laughed a little at my joke. Then asked, "Is your condition going to force us to cancel our plans tonight?"

I shook my head. "No, but don't expect to go dancing." That got another giggle out of her as we brought the last bandit down. Everything got quiet again as the soldiers began to round up all the unconscious bandits. Tigress helped me up to my feet, I grimaced at the pain in my legs but didn't think about it too much; I'll feel much better tonight.

The captain of the imperial soldiers walked up to us. "Thank you for your help Dragon Warrior." He said with a bow. Tigress put my arm around her shoulder, helping support some of my weight. I gave her a small smile to show my gratitude. Seeing her smile back was better than any reward they might have given me.

I turned my attention back to the captain. "Hey, it wasn't just me, everyone had a hand in it." I said not wanting all the glory for myself. I looked around at the bandits that were being rounded up when I noticed something. "Where is their leader?" I asked out loud. That put everyone on edge. The big water buffalo who led the bandits was missing.

"He must've slipped away when we weren't looking." Tigress said with a scowl. I may not have been at the Jade Palace long, but I know that whenever something doesn't go perfectly, Tigress will see it as a failure. And to her, a water buffalo slipping out from under her nose was… well, I'm just sure she's glad Shifu wasn't here to see it happen.

"Hey, don't worry about it, I'm sure we'll get another shot at. Just wait." That seemed to cheer her up a bit. Everyone gathered around and asked what the next plan of action was. I explained to them that by tomorrow my legs will have gotten better and we can move on to the next to the next leg of our journey… without giving them any details of course. If I told them how my legs will have healed by morning they wouldn't believe me, and would want me to prove it, then I'd miss my date with Tigress. So I kept the whole moonlight healing thing to myself.

So now, with Tigress's help, I made my way to the inn where we were staying for the night so I could rest up a bit. Before we parted ways I told my feline friend to meet me out front of inn just around sunset.

Gods willing, this will be a night to remember.

 **Tigress's P.O.V.**

I paced back and forth in front of the inn's door nervously as the sun began to sink into the western horizon.

Nervously… now that I think about it, I'm lucky I haven't flipped out yet. This is going to be my first date. Not just with Hiro; my first date ever, so naturally I'm quite nervous about it.

When I told Viper about our plans (Hiro and mine, that is) she was squealing in delight like a little schoolgirl. I had a mind to reprimand her for her unprofessional behavior, but I don't think I've ever seen her this happy about something since the Valley of Peace had that dance competition, so I let it slide this once.

She pulled me in the room she and the other girls were using and already began fussing over me. The Sapphire girls heard about what was going on and offered their congratulations, except for Di Foon who was giving me a death glare when she heard, which I answered with my own.

Viper kept pestering me with questions like, "Do you want to go out and buy a dress real quick?" Which I was against. Or "What kind of makeup do you want to wear?" Which I was very against. I mean, why is she making a big deal outta this? It's just a date, it's not like I'm going to meet the Emperor or anything.

When I said that, the girls all looked like I had said something blasphemous. "The first date is always the most important. Not only is it an important milestone in any woman's life, it also starts you on the path to a happier life!"

So at the end of Vipers fussing we settled for me with nicely groomed fur and a clean outfit (the only kind I had.) Once I was ready, I went outside in front of the inn where Hiro told me to meet him; I went out the doors just before sunset.

I didn't have to wait long for Hiro to show up. After five minutes of waiting he came limping out of the inn, his face wincing in discomfort with each step he took. I was seriously considering cancelling our date and sending him back to the Valley of peace to recover.

"You ready?" He asked smiling. His smile disappeared when he saw the worried expression on my face. "What's wrong?" He asked, now worried himself. Once he finished limping to me I shared my thoughts. When I was finished he chuckled a little. I felt my anger begin to rise, I was worried about him and he thinks it's funny? Oh, when I'm done with him, he's going to have to return to the Valley.

When he finished laughing he looked up at the sky. "Gonna be a clear night tonight." He said. He lost me. What does a clear night have to do with… "The moon!" I exclaimed, suddenly realizing where he was going with this. He nodded.

"Like I told everyone earlier; by morning I'll be just fine. So for now, let's just enjoy ourselves." he said holding out his hand, expecting me to take it. I gave him a skeptical look and lowered his hand with a shrug and began limping down the street, with me right beside him.

After a few minutes of walking/limping we made it to a classy restaurant called "The Zen Wok". It was a pretty big place for such a small town, inside however was majestic. The floors were so shiny you could see yourself in it, there was a small band in the far corner playing a relaxing song, there was even a large fountain in the opposite corner. This place looks as though it should be in the Imperial City rather than a small town like this.

When I asked Hiro about this he said that one day the Prince was going to pass through the town and demanded a nice place to eat for when he arrived. When he got there the Prince declared the restaurant to be "barely passable". And once the Prince left the townspeople decided to keep the place as a full-time eatery.

We walked… and limped down in between the tables until we found an empty one. I had to help Hiro sit down because of his injured legs, I didn't mind though. After I sat down the waitress, who happened to be an old friend of Hiro's, came to take our order… after a quick reunion of course. After the waitress left we began to talk, about almost everything except the mission we were currently on.

Once our food came, teriyaki tofu stir fry for me and curry and rice for him, Hiro would start to tell me a few funny stories from his travels. Like how he dressed up as a mummy in a hospital, got more details about that one. Then he told me the story about his first drink of sake, it kinda made me want to avoid drinking alcohol of any kind, I really wouldn't want to wake up naked in a radish field like Hiro did.

Then I started telling him a few stories, about when Shifu first adopted me, about the first day I began my training, about the first time i broke a stone block (Intentionally). And after a while I began to notice something…

I was having fun.

Normally I wouldn't be acting so carefree like this… but then again I normally wouldn't be out on a date with anyone. What would Shifu say if he knew? I'd rather not find out.

After we were done with dinner we left the restaurant and walked over to a nearby field. Everyone in the village was getting ready to wind down for the night, the only two people who were out were Hiro and myself.

While we walked in the field we began talking about our futures and our dreams. I told him how I wanted to be the greatest tiger master ever known, and that all my training was to help me achieve that dream. Hiro had a similar dream, one he had once he first learned Kung Fu, and that was to be the greatest master ever. But he surprised me when he told me he had another hope for the future. I was further surprised when he told me it was a secret.

After a while I noticed how dark it was. I looked up and saw the moon was starting to just starting to come out from behind some clouds, suddenly the whole field was bathed in a pale silver light, along with Hiro and I. Once the moonlight washed over him, the markings on Hiro's right arm began to shine. He gave a relieved sigh and slumped his shoulders. "Oh yeah, that feels soooo much better." He eased himself down and layed on the grass.

I smiled and layed down next to him, the grass felt so soft compared to the hard floors from the Jade Palace. I turned my head to face him and watched the light dancing off his arm. "What's it like?" I asked.

He turned to me. "What's what like?" he asked back.

"When the moon does that to you… what's it like.?"

He became quiet for a minute or two, trying to figure out how to describe it. "It's like a really thin curtain of cool water washing over you. At least that's the best way I can describe it, almost like walking through mist."

I nodded at his explanation. "And your injuries?" Which was my biggest concern. "What's that like?"

He was much quicker to answer this time. "Slowly it fades away, all the pain and fatigue from the day. Then after a while, it's gone. Scars will be left behind, but after a while all my injuries heal. Then when the morning comes, it feels like you're… new." Now it made sense why Master Shifu let him out to the village to help with repairs; he healed faster than us, I must admit I was a little jealous.

Our final conversation of the night was Kung Fu. He asked me about my style and I asked him about his. And when I brought up how he sat down in the fight against the bandits today, I couldn't help but laugh. It was the first time I ever heard of a master winning a fight by sitting down.

After a while Hiro looked up to the sky and saw the position of the moon. "We should probably head back, it's almost midnight." I was absolutely surprised at how fast time flew, but we made our way back to the town, Hiro had no trouble walking this time. We got to the inn and made our way up to our rooms, there we stopped outside our rooms for a final goodnight.

"I really had fun tonight." I said. And I did. I never thought I would ever have fun like this with someone else.

"Me too. We should do it again sometime."

"Yeah we should."

"Well, goodnight." He said turning to the door to the boys room.

I put my hand on his shoulder and turned him around, there was one more thing I had to do.

I leaned forward and planted a small kiss on his cheek.

When I leaned back Hiro's eyes were as wide as saucers. It made me giggle a little, seeing like this was… kind of cute.

"Good Night Hiro." I said walking in the girls room and closing the door, leaving the shocked wolf in the hallway.

I really can't wait for the next date.

 **A/N. You know I just noticed how long it's been since my last update, sorry to keep y'all waiting.**

 **Now like I promised here are the new weapon choices for Hiro.**

 **A new set of Hanbo.**

 **A pair of Wakizashi**

 **A set of Twin Hook Swords**

 **Pm me to make your choice, whichever weapon gets the most votes will be Hiro's new go-to weapon and the end of this story and for the rest of the series (God willing).**

 **Also please send your reviews, tell me how much you missed me, or let me know how much you like the story so far. Hopefully the next chapter won't take so long.**

 **See ya next time!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Kung Fu Wolf:Rising of the Moon**

Chapter eleven: Bad dreams

 **Hiro's P.O.V.**

I woke up with a huge grin on my face. My cheek was still tingling where Tigress had kissed it. I got up and silently walked over to the window and took a look outside. The sun was beginning to rise over the horizon, cutting through the thin layer of fog that hung just above the ground.

I looked around the large room, which looked like it could have been part of a military barracks, and noticed that once again I was the first one awake. Of course, it won't be for long. Tigress will wake up soon and wake everyone else up (by throwing them out of their beds if necessary). After that we'll be on our way to our next destination, Tigress is going to decide the route this time. And then we-

Wait.

I looked around the room and suddenly noticed that we're missing someone.

Where is Marcus?

I looked around the room again, but sure enough the massive panther wasn't here. Where could he be? I mean someone as big as he is shouldn't be able to hide easily, right? But there was no sign of him… maybe the guys know where he is.

I quietly crept over to where Monkey was sleeping. He looked absolutely at peace, it almost made me feel bad to wake him… almost. I started poking him in the side of the head. "Monkey, wake up." I said in a singsongy voice. Of course he just rolled over and muttered sleepily…

"But I don't wanna go to school today mom." What?

I poked the side of his head a little harder. "Come on Monkey, don't make me get Tigress in here." He just kept sleeping. I thought for sure that threatening to bring in Tigress would have gotten him up.

"Must hide… almond cookies… behind big pot…" Monkey said in his sleep. Behind the big pot huh? Gotta remember that, those cookies are good.

I poked him in the side of the head harder than before. "C'mon Monkey, I'm really starting to loose my patience." I said sing songy again. A little thing you should know about me, I can usually be patient with people… but if I have to repeat myself, let's say I have a rule about that. I call it my rule of three. Three chances, that's all I give you. If I have to ask something more than three times… that's when I start to get unpleasant.

And Monkey just had his third chance.

"Gonna place banana peels outside Hiro's door." Okay that's it!

"The hell you are!" I grumbled. I then grabbed Monkey by the end of his tail yanked him out of his bed and yelled. "Wake up, dammit!" That did it. Monkey woke up with his startled "monkey screech" which woke everyone else in the room as well.

"Hiro, what the hell!?"

"What? We gotta get ready anyway. By the way, have you seen Marcus anywhere?" I asked. Monkey gave me a flat, "did you really wake me up for this?" look.

"No I haven't, now can I please go back to sleep?" He asked with a displeased look on his face.

"No, we will be getting ready to leave soon." I answered then unceremoniously dropped Monkey on the floor. I then looked around the room at everyone who was awake. I opened my mouth to speak when I noticed that Zoyo was missing too. I looked over to Chin and was about to ask about it, but Chin raised his hand and shook his head to stop me.

"He disappears like this, he'll meet up with us soon." Chin explained. I nodded, that's one mystery solved.

"Has anyone else seen Marcus anywhere?" I asked. Everyone shook their heads. Where the hell was he?

Mantis spoke up. "You know, now that I think about it, didn't he disappear after fighting with those bandits yesterday?" Honestly because of the pain I was going through when they tried to break my legs I didn't notice.

"Yeah, I didn't see him around much after all that." Crane stated. I looked over to Chin who just shrugged.

"Sorry man, I was too busy chatting with the local ladies to notice. After all that stuff that happened with the bandits we became the talk of the town, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to-"

"Anyways." I interrupted. I didn't want to hear about him flirting with the girls around here. And I think I know how everything happened, and it all consisted with a slap in the face. I know this because of two reasons; one, I know the people here, and two there is a hand shaped mark on the left side of Chin's face. "We need to find them or else we won't be able to leave." I said getting my shirt on.

"Can't we sleep in for a few more hours?" Mantis asked. "I mean we're not really on 'training schedule' here."

"No we're not." I admitted. "But we still have a job to do, so I want everyone to be in the lobby in five minutes." I don't normally take charge like this; I usually leave that to Tigress. Feels different to be honest… actually I'm kind of expecting one of them to-

"And what if we just go back to sleep?" Chin asked challengingly.

Yep, there it is. That's what I was expecting.

I strapped my hanbo to my back then turned to face Chin. "Well, there is this new technique I've been developing and if no one is down there in five minutes, I will practice that new technique on whoever thinks I'm joking, and goes back to sleep." I smiled as I made my way to the door. I turned around once more to see the guys look a little nervous. "And it will probably leave you incapacitated for a few days… still haven't worked out all the kinks yet, you know."

Their faces turned pale as I walked out.

Heh, heh, heh that was kind of fun.

I walked over to the girls room and raised my hand to knock. Before my knuckles made contact with the door, it opened revealing a beautiful female tiger. "Come on! We got to get moving soon so- Oh, good morning Hiro." She said as soon as she noticed me in front of the door.

"Morning Tigress. Getting everyone ready to go?" I asked. She nodded and turned back to the girls in the room.

"Five minutes." She said, which was followed by a chorus of groans. "Breakfast?" She asked me.

"I was just about to ask you that." I answered, smiling at her. "The girls giving you trouble about waking up?" I asked as we made our way to the lobby, my smile growing bigger when I noticed she was still wearing my bandana around her neck.

Tigress shrugged her shoulders. "A little. What about you and the boys?"

"I gave them five minutes to get ready to go, or I'll be practicing a new move on the ones who think I'm kidding." I said, my smile turning into more of an evil grin.

"Good one. Wish I had thought about that." We made it to the lobby and sat down on the chairs provided.

"Why? What did you tell them?" I asked.

"I told them that anyone who stayed behind would be left behind. How much time is left?" I thought about it for a couple of seconds…

"About two minutes, I think." Give or take a couple of seconds. "But we have a bit of a problem."

Tigress took on a look of concern at what I had said. "What is it?" She asked.

"I can't seem to find Marcus anywhere." Tigress frowned.

"What do you mean you can't find Marcus?" She asked me like a parent scolding her child for losing something.

"Like I said, I can't find him; I don't know where he is; he isn't around. Need I explain it further?" Yeah, I tend to be a wiseass sometimes. It doesn't happen often, but it happens.

She gave me a flat look at my wise-assery, and asked. "Well, where did you see him last?"

"I think it was during the battle with those bandits that attacked yesterday, after that he disappeared." I kept thinking to myself about where Marcus could have ran off to when I had realized something. "Hey… you don't think some of those bandits could have carried him off somewhere, do you?" I asked with a hint of worry in my voice. Before she could answer someone to our right caught our attention.

"Oh, they'd have to go through all sorts'a hell to carry me off."

We turned to see the massive panther making his way to us. I let out a breath of relief knowing the big guy was safe. If anything had happened to him it wouldn't make us look very good.

"Morning y'all." He greeted us. Tigress greeted him back, but the first thing I wanted to know was…

"Where've you been? You just disappeared on us after the bandit attack. What the hell happened?" I asked. Some people would think 'hey he's here!' and just leave it at that, but hey, I wanted to know.

Marcus gave me an apologetic look. "Sorry there partner, but after we took care of those varmints…" Varmints? There's another new one. "... I decided to ask around town about if any refugees came around, hoping my sister might have passed through." Ok, I suppose that's understandable.

"Any luck?" Tigress asked.

"Sorta, I learned from a merchant that the other ship, the one my sister was probably on, landed in a place called Shanghai."

The very place we're trying to get to. Works for me.

"Anything else we should know?" A voice asked. We all turned to see a walking pile of black clothes and a black painted hat. Zoyo.

"Yeah, I also heard that the inns over there are taking in the refugees, so my sister should be there." Marcus said with a smile on his face.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's get going!" We turned to the staircase to see everyone gathering around.

Good, everyone's here. "First breakfast, then we set out for Shanghai." I said.

Tigress nodded. "Alright then. But we're taking the main road!" She said to me. I guess she's still mad about the whole Migong canyon thing.

We all made our way out of the hotel and to a small restaurant to grab a quick bite to eat. Once we leave, it'll take us a few days to get to Shanghai; we'll have to go through a few towns. But thanks to going through the Migong Canyon we cut off a week of travel…

...But some people, I'm not going to say who *cough* *cough* _everyone_ *cough*, are still a little pissed at me for choosing that route. I don't get why everyone is still mad at me, I got everyone out alive, didn't I?

"Hey Tigress, can I ask you something?" I heard Viper ask.

Tigress shrugged her shoulders. "I suppose."

"Why are you wearing Hiro's bandana?"

Uhh… well… I guess I forgot that everyone would ask questions about that. I noticed out of the corner of my eye, everyone had their eyes intently set on Tigress. Well sort of, Di Foon was actually glaring at Tigress, while Chin was glaring at me.

"That's none of your business." She answered simply. Everyone's eyes then landed on me.

"Hey, if she isn't going to tell you, I'm not going to tell you."

 **No one's P.O.V. Bandit Brigade hideout.**

Late in the afternoon, the cold hearted leader of the army of soldiers, now turned bandits, looked out on his loyal men as they practiced their drills and spared with each other to keep themselves sharp and ready for any battle that may come their way.

Zhou Feng Gu felt a sense of pride well up in his chest, although they were abandoned and left for dead by the very man they had all pledged their loyalty and services to, he knew that his men would never turn their backs on him… he'd run his sword through them if they tried.

A commotion on the western end of the encampment had drawn his attention, he then calmly walked over to see his most trusted lieutenant Bao Zhi return from his mission. Zhou looked around for the rest of the men whom he had sent with Bao Zhi, as well as the jewels he was supposed to obtain, only to find… nothing.

"Bao Zhi." Zhou said in an icy voice. "Why is it that you've returned to me alone… and empty handed?:

The water buffalo kept his head down, too afraid to look his leader in the eye. "Forgive me sir, there were complications."

Zhou had already drawn his sword and everyone within the immediate area took a few steps back. They all knew blood was to be drawn, and they prefered it not be theirs.

"What kind of complications?" Zhou asked the now terrified water buffalo.

"There was a large group of kung fu masters and the Dragon Warrior there. They helped the guards protect the jewels. I only managed to get away." Zhou frowned at his lieutenants story.

"Why would a large group of kung fu masters be in such a small town? Are you sure you're not just trying to save your hide?" Zhou asked taking a few steps closer to

Bao Zhi raised his arms in a futile attempt to protect himself from his captain. "I swear sir! They were helping someone search for his sister, he was one of the refugees from Japan. They were on their way to Shanghai!" Zhou lowered his sword and began to contemplate what he was told.

A group of kung fu masters could prove to be hazardous to his plans. He needed to take care of them… but first…

"Thank you Bao Zhi. You've done well to give me this information." This shocked not only Bao Zhi but everyone present. Zhou Feng Gu was known to be a lot of things, but "forgiving" was not one of them.

"But you that I can't stand failure." Zhou snarled, and swung his sword at the water buffalo, the tip of his blade carving its way across his face; cutting out his left eye. Bao Zhi screamed in pain and brought his hands up to his injured face. "There, all is forgiven. Now that wasn't so bad was it?" Zhou asked in the same manner as when he killed the rat, Fong.

Bao Zhi spoke between sharp breaths. "No sir… thank you… for… giving me… another chance."

"Well, let's hope you don't squander it." Zhou said coolly as he began to think on what to do with the meddlesome masters. He wouldn't be able to continue his plans of taking over China as long as they were around. Maybe not now but soon the kung fu masters would stand in his way. Better to take them out now rather than them be a nuisance later.

As Zhou paced around he suddenly got an idea. "Oh, Bao Zhi!" He called. The water buffalo walked up to his captain with a dirty cloth wrapped around his head to cover his left eye.

"Yes sir?" Bao Zhi warrily asked.

"How soon can you get to Shanghai?"

 **Hiro's P.O.V. That Night.**

After a completely uneventful day of walking we made camp on the side of the of the road. We made a lot of progress today, in fact I think we will make it to Shanghai the day after tomorrow.

Right now everyone is fast asleep, except for me and Zoyo who was on watch duty. But I knew I was about to nod off. I hope it would happen soon, because I've got the next shift in a few hours.

*Yawn*

Yep, gonna happen… any… minute…

 _Dreamscape_

 _I opened my eyes, I was standing ankle deep in water. I looked around and I couldn't say where I was. It was dark, and everything was eerily still. I looked up to see the moon, no stars just the moon…_

 _It was red._

 _I then looked down at my right arm to see the effect a crimson moon would have on me._

 _There wasn't any._

 _The markings on my arm didn't shine, and that gave me a feeling of dread._

" _Hello!" I called out._

" _Hello!" "Hello!" "Hello!" My echo answered._

 _Yeah this place is giving me the creeps. Time to get the hell out of here._

 _I turned around, hopefully to leave, to see a wispy shadow like charging at me with a sword prepared to take my head._

 _I ducked out of the way and whipped out my hanbo. The… shape came at me for a second attack, only this time I was ready. I brought up my Lunar Sphere and started knocking away all the swipes, slashes and chops the sword wielding shadow had thrown at me. Whoever this guy was he was good. His sword managed to get past my defenses and cut me a few times._

 _After a few more minutes of fighting I found an opening and swung my hanbo to make contact with the shapes skull, only to have my weapon meet nothing but air._

 _The shape disappeared. I looked around trying to find my attacker, but saw nothing…_

 _Until I looked down to see the tip of a sword protruding from my chest._

 _Real world_

I woke up.

I was short of breath, my clothes were soaked with sweat.

What the hell was that?

I never had a dream like that before, it didn't feel like a dream. It fell way too real. That shape that attacked me, the red moon and the moment of my…

Like I said, way too real.

"Bad dreams?" A voice asked.

I whipped my head to the side to see Zoyo sitting by the fire, his cloak and hat removed, revealing the dark furred fox. The markings on his face, similar to mine, glowed in that sickly purple light. The other night he had told me he was a trainer of half-bloods, whatever that meant. I tried to get information out of him about my last dream about a wolf lady in white. But I couldn't get anything out of him.

Might as well try again.

"You going to ask if I saw the lady in white again?" I asked.

Zoyo's crimson eyes landed on me and said. "No, because you didn't dream of her."

How the hell can he know that?

"When people like us dream, we don't dream like everyone else. We see things that transcend time and the mortal limits of this world." He said looking back at the fire. I had no real idea on what that meant but I threw out a guess.

"So I… had a vision of the future?" I asked. He just shook his head.

"No one can truly see the future, because the future is never assured. The choices we make in the present have a very strong influence on the future. What you saw was a possibility. Something that might happen. So there is no real need to worry."

Ooookay then. I guess I'll take his word for it.

"You can go back to sleep if you can." He said.

I gave him a confused look. "But it's my turn to watch-"

"It's alright." He interrupted. "I'll be fine. Right now you need to sleep that dream off."

I didn't argue with him. I just lied down and tried to sleep again.

It didn't take me long to fall asleep and dream again… only this time the dreams were better…

Tigress was in them.

 **A/N.**

 **Hey guys! Once again I'd like to apologize for being gone so long, but my personal schedule is just crazy.**

 **Ok couple things before I go, first of all I'd like to thank everyone who has placed their votes for Hiro's new weapon. It will be announced in a couple more chapters (at the story's climax) so there is still time to vote on what weapon you want to see (or read) Hiro use.**

 **Once again the choices are**

 **A pair of Wakizashi**

 **A new pair of hanbo**

 **A pair of twin hook swords.**

 **So let's get those votes in.**

 **Another thing, the art contest is still going on. If anyone has any questions please PM me.**

 **And one last thing, I'd like to give a shout out at one of my favorite fans; The Silent Reader (You know who you are) Thank you for being a fan of my stories from the Kung Fu Wolf series to The Okami Files (which hasn't been getting a lot of love lately (come on, give it a chance))**

 **See ya next time.**


	12. Chapter 12

Kung Fu Wolf: Rising of the moon

Chapter Twelve: An old friend

A/N Hey guys, I'm back. I know it has taken me forever to update this story, and I thank you all so much for your patience. So without further ado (Have no idea where that comes from or what it even means) let's get on with the next chapter!

Hiro's P.O.V.

You ever have one of those days when something from your past, good or bad, comes back to haunt you?

That's what happened to me today.

We continued traveling to Shanghai where, according to a few rumors, the refugees from a massive bandit attack were residing. One of those refugees was our client's sister. We know where to look, all that's left is to find her.

But back to what I was talking about before. You see, my past wasn't always…. Let's say "fun". Before I started apprenticing under many different people who specialized in specific trades, I was in an orphanage. Not fun at all.

First few years of my life there was fine, the matron was kind, I had a few friends and it was all good. But later someone else took control of the orphanage and that's when things started going downhill.

We in the orphanage called him "The Warden". The reason? Because he was always tough but fair. To everyone…

Except me.

You see, I was different from all the other kids; I was the only one there with fangs and claws. And it wasn't until The Warden took control of the place that everyone noticed how different I was to them.

Things got so bad, that I ran away the first chance I got… I escaped. Because I knew, don't ask me how a child would know this, if I stayed any longer I would have been hurt by The Warden…

Maybe even killed.

"Everything alright Hiro?"

The voice snapped me out of my thoughts, a voice that belonged to my good friend Viper, who at the moment was slithering next to me. She looked up at me with a very concerned look on her face. I took a quick look around to see everyone from the Jade Palace with similar expressions, same with the girls from the Sapphire Palace… I couldn't tell with Zoyo, and Chin looked like he didn't care.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why?" I asked giving her a reassuring smile. I appreciate that they're worried about me, what pals, but there's nothing to worry about, everything's fine… sort of.

"Well, you've been pretty quiet the past couple of hours. It's a little unlike you." Crane stated. He had a point there. Usually I'd be telling them a few stories from my past (Except from my time in the orphanage, of course). Or trying to get them to tell me about their adventures. Maybe even throw in a few jokes here and there.

"Just thinking." About what, I wanted to keep to myself. I just hope they don't-

"About what?" Mantis asked.

… Ask me.

Of course. Hope for one thing chances are pretty great you'll get the exact opposite… kinda like how I became the Dragon Warrior; the one person who never really wanted it is the one who got the title. Now that's irony for you.

"Just… things." I said. I was hoping they would leave it at that… but of course they wouldn't.

"What kind of things?" Monkey asked this time.

"Just things." I said, starting to get a little annoyed.

"But what kind of-" Mantis started to ask, but at the end all we heard was a painful sounding "Oomph!"

We all looked over to where Mantis was to see Tigress stepping on him. "Enough already. If he doesn't talk about it, don't start pestering him." And with that she kept on walking.

….

….

Holy crap, she is awesome.

We walked in a semi-comfortable silence until around noon, then we stopped for a quick rest and a bite to eat. We stocked up on dried nuts and berries from a store at the previous village, they weren't exactly filling but it worked out.

About a half-hour later we started back on the road to Shanghai, and along the way we came across something very interesting. As we made our way to our destination we found a large kiosk on the side of the road. It was filled with what I assumed to be fancy dishware and such. I could tell from looking, call it my craftsman's eye, that the items in the cart were of pretty high quality.

I actually tried to make things like this once… I failed miserably. I'm just not really good with the delicate stuff.

As we got closer to the kiosk we started hearing noises from the front. Like someone struggling with something. We approached cautiously; we heard rumors about thieves and bandits pretending to be hurt or in trouble so as to rob any concerned person blind. When we got to the front of the rolling kiosk… you know what, let's just call it a wagon; it's easier that way. So, when we got to the front of the wagon (see? Easier, right?) we saw a female goat struggling to pull the wagon out of a mud puddle one of the front wheels were sinking into.

"Excuse me?" Tigress said, making the goat quickly turn around. If I had to describe her in one word, it would be "cute". She was about a head shorter than me, her horns were small and dainty looking, her fur was almost as white as mine, and her eyes were as blue as the sky above us.

And there was also something familiar about her… I just can't quite put my finger on it.

"Oh, good afternoon!" The goat girl said. "Is there anything I can help you with?" She had a sweet sounding voice… I know I've seen her somewhere before… but where?

"That's exactly what I was about to ask you." Tigress said flatly, pointing at the wagon.

"Oh no, it's okay." The goat girls said rather quickly… maybe a little too quickly. She continued to try and pull her wagon out of the mud without success, and we stood there and watched… for about five minutes, then she gave up.

"Umm." She started to blush. She started looking a little nervous. "Uhhmm… could one of you…?" Ahh, I see… too proud to ask for help.

Tigress and Kira Ni walked up to the front of the wagon to pull, while Chin and I went to the back to push. "Ready?" Tigress called.

"Ready!" We both called out.

"One!... Two!... Three!"

One push/pull was all it took to dislodge the wagon from the mud puddle.

After we got the wagon moving the goat girl got really excited, she started jumping up and down, clapping and laughing… like a schoolgirl. "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!" She then skipped, I'm not kidding she actually skipped, over to Tigress and Kira and gave them hugs.

Kira accepted her hug, uhh… gracefully, I guess the word would be. Tigress, however looked a little… taken aback about her hug. The goat girl then came over to where Chin and I were, and threw her arms around Chin, which he enjoyed… a little too much. Then she turned to me…

She froze.

She just stood there… unmoving, unblinking. Her blue-green eyes locked on me… she looked like she had just seen a ghost.

And then it hit me.

I remembered where I had seen her before.

"Hiro?" She breathed.

"Nuan?" I answered back. Yep, I knew I knew her. She's…

...My old friend from the orphanage.

Flashback. Eighteen years ago. No one's P.O.V.

The sun rose on a small village amid green rolling hills. The residents of the village stirred in their beds as the sun warmed the land. Some of the villagers were already getting ready to begin their day, some were enthusiastic about the morning, others were not.

One such enthusiastic individual was a young wolf who had just come out of his seventh winter. He rushed to the room's window and ripped the shades open, letting the fill the room; much to the displeasure of his roommates.

A chorus of groans was heard behind the young wolf. He turned around to see a lump on nine other beds hide themselves from the sun by covering themselves with blankets and pillows. The young wolf looked on as the individual lumps returned to a state of motionlessness and sighed.

"C'mon guys! We're burning daylight here!" The wolf exclaimed trying to rouse his roommates from their slumber.

"Hiro, you're the only one who even wants to be up right now. Let the rest of us sleep." Came a voice from a lump on a bed to his immediate right. More voices were heard from the other beds, all agreeing with the first one who spoke.

Hiro looked confused. "Why the heck would I do that?" He asked. "You guys do remember what today is, right?" His question was enough to make the other children sit upright in a flash, and start scrambling for the door.

Today was indeed a special day at Cho Zu orphanage; adoption day. A day that every child looks forward to in Cho Zu, but not one every child gets to enjoy.

Hiro is one such child. Hiro has seen many adoption days come and go, he has seen many adults come and go, he has even spoken to a few of them but that was it. Every time he would speak to a couple or a single adult the guy in charge of the orphanage, who all the children called The Warden, would be seen talking with them, and Hiro would never see them again.

The Warden was a ibex who replaced the previous matron when she retired. And when he took control, he targeted Hiro with extreme prejudice.

Hiro shook his head in amusement as his fellow orphans rushed over to the bathing area to get cleaned up for today's event. He then realized that he needed to get ready himself, so he grabbed a clean set of clothes and followed suit after his roommates. As he ran out the bedroom door he bumped into something; falling right on his tail.

Hiro looked up to meet the glaring gaze of the warden.

Hiro lowered his eyes, he wanted to refrain from as much eye contact with the warden as he possibly could. "Good morning, sir." Hiro mumbled. The Warden's eyes narrowed.

"What did you say to me?" The Warden hissed.

"I just said-" Hiro was unable to finish, as The Warden grabbed a fistfull of the fur on Hiro's head, pulling his head up so as to meet his gaze once more.

"And look at me when I'm talking to you!" The Warden snarled. "Now what I'm sure you meant to say was "I am very sorry for bumping into you like that sir, I'll be sure to scrub the dishes tonight to make up for it." Is that right?"

"But I-" Hiro began to argue, but was silenced as The Warden pulled harder on the tuft of Hiro's fur in his hand. Hiro clenched his teeth in pain then said, "Yes sir."

"Splendid." Said The Warden, letting go of Hiro. "Now get to the baths, you smell worse than usual today." And The Warden walked over to his office which was on the floor above.

When The Warden took control of the orphanage, he was know to be stern but fair to all the children, all except for Hiro.

Hiro rubbed at the spot where his fur had been pulled while glaring in the direction The Warden had gone. "I don't understand why he's so mean to you." Hiro heard a voice behind him, when he turned around he saw a cute little goat girl. Her name was Nuan and she had been at the orphanage almost as long as Hiro had.

"I don't either." Hiro replied. "But I don't have to worry about it much longer, I got a good feeling about today!" he exclaimed with a huge smile on his face.

Nuan's eyes widened in delight at her friends news. "You think today is gonna be the day you get adopted?" She asked, Nuan always wished the best for everyone in the orphanage; Hiro especially. And seeing the way The Warden treated Hiro only made her wish even harder.

"I have no idea, but there's only one way to find out." Hiro answered enthusiastically making his way to the boy's bathing area, Nuan on her way to the girls.

"I'm getting out of here." Hiro thought to himself. "One way or another."

Later.

Hiro sat at a table in the Cho Zhu courtyard, playing a game of checkers with one of the adults who had come looking to adopt a child. A snow leopard and his wife came to adopt and they found Hiro sitting alone at a table.

"So, Hiro… How long did you say you've stayed here?" The husband asked the young wolf, moving one of his pieces.

Hiro smirked as the snow leopard made his move, then took one of his pieces and jumped over four of his opponents, leaving him with a shocked look on his face. "As long as I can remember, I guess. They told me I was found here as a baby."

The snow leopard looked thoughtfully at the board between them, then made a move that put Hiro in a tight spot. "Must have been tough. How'd you handle it?" He asked, as Hiro contemplated his next move.

"What do you mean?" He asked, looking for clarification, as he made a move that took another one of the snow leopards pieces.

"I mean you being the only predatory individual here. Surely it must be hard to cope." The snow leopard stated.

The young wolf shook his head and jump another two of the leopards pieces. "No, everyone here seems to be alright with it…" Hiro glanced over to where The Warden stood; he was glaring at Hiro with an intensity that he could almost kill the child with just his eyes. "...Well almost everyone."

The snow leopard followed the boy's gaze to see the ibex who ran the orphanage glaring daggers at Hiro. The snow leopard had a terrible forbidding thought, if he didn't get the wolf pup out himself, he wasn't going to get out at all.

"I win." The spotted feline looked down at the board to see all his pieces taken. A smile tugged on the corners of his mouth, and a chuckle escaped his lips. He stood up and out his hands on the pups shoulders and looked him in the eye.

"Hiro… Would you like to come home with us?" The snow leopard asked.

If Hiro's smile could be measured, it would wrap around the world many times over. He nodded vigorously at the couple, who now believed that their family would be complete.

"Well then, we just need to talk to the ibex, and then you'll be on your way home." He helped his wife to her feet like a gentleman and went to where The Warden stood.

Hiro could barely contain his excitement; this was it, the day he had been waiting for for what seemed like forever… He was finally gonna get adopted! His joyful attitude was short lived however as he remembered the one person who could allow it to happen, or deny it altogether.

The Warden was his final obstacle.

"Looks to me like someone might be leaving this place." A voice tore Hiro from his thoughts. It was his friend; the goat girl Nuan. She had a huge smile on her face and a bounce in her every step. "Guess what? I just talked to this couple and I think I might be getting adopted too!" She started to bounce around and giggle uncontrollably,

Hiro barely acknowledged her his mind was on The Warden and whether or not he was gonna get out of here. He had stood in the way of the wolf pup's adoption before, what if this time was no different? Nuan was getting a little annoyed at the lack of attention she was getting from her friend. "Hey, Hiro!" She called as she began poking him in the side of his head, bringing him back to the real world. "What's going on? We're finally getting out of here! I thought you'd be happier than this."

Hiro's thoughts went back to The Warden, and if he would really try everything in his power to keep Hiro here forever. "The Warden's tried to stop it before, I get the feeling he's gonna do it again." The smile faded from Nuan's face, she knew what Hiro was talking about. There were rumors going around the orphanage that The Warden tried everything he could to make potential parents think twice about taking the young wolf home with them.

Nuan couldn't stand the thought of her best friend staying behind in this place as she left to go to her new home. "Come on, let's go find out." She said pulling Hiro to their 'secret eavesdropping place' .

"I'm sorry, could you repeat that?" The ibex stared at the feline couple with a mixture of shock and disgust.

"I said, we want to adopt the wolf pup Hiro." The snow leopard said almost hostile-like. He and his wife were absolutely adamant about taking the pup home with them, however their efforts were being thwarted by the bitter ibex sitting across the desk in front of them.

The leopardess spoke. "We absolutely love the child, we believe he will complete our family. Please let us sign the papers." She was nearly in tears, it was like her dream of having a child was slipping through her fingers again, like all the other times she tried to conceive with her husband.

This was their last hope.

"Perhaps I could interest you in one of our other children." The Warden pulled out the files of the other orphans. "Let's see here… Ah yes, here Sugo, a charming young man, perhaps he could be a suitable son?"

The leopard was beginning to lose his patience, but he bit his tongue so as to not endanger his chances to adopt Hiro as his son. "No thank you." He said through clenched teeth. "We have chosen Hiro to be our child, now please; the papers." The leopard held out his hand to receive the adoption papers, so they could take the pup home.

The Warden narrowed his eyes at the couple, and let out a sigh through his nose. He then pulled out of his desk, the papers that had Hiro's name written at the top. He took another look at the couple in front of him. "Are you sure I can't interest you in one of our other children?" He asked. Both snow leopards shook their heads. "I thought not." The Warden said nonchalantly, and proceeded to tear the adoption papers apart.

The snow leopard's eyes widened in shock as their dreams of having their family complete was snatched away from them. Outraged, the snow leopard rose so fast the chair was thrown backwards, his hands slammed on the desk as he roared. "WHY!?"

The Warden stared at the two with the same eyes he gave Hiro, eyes filled with ice cold venom. "Your request for adoption has been denied." He said coldly. "And let me be as clear as possible, as long as I have a say in it, that… thing will never see the outside of these walls. And as for the two of you, I gave you both a chance to make an alternate choice, but you chose to ignore my generous offer. So-"

"Generous? Generous! We had found the child we always wanted and you, on no grounds whatsoever, snatch him away from us! How on earth can you call that generous?" The snow leopard shouted, the fur on his back standing straight up. His wife was just as emotional; tears threatened to spill from her eyes but she tried with all her might to hold them back.

"Why do you hold Hiro in such contempt? What has he done to you?" She asked in a soft voice. The Warden narrowed his eyes, and spoke.

"Nothing… yet. But it's not what he has done, it's what he is capable of." The ibex explained, earning a look of confusion from both felines. "The boy has claws and he has fangs, and it's just a matter of time before he realizes how to use them. Honestly sometimes it gives me cause for concern for the other children's safety."

The husband was absolutely livid. "Then let us adopt him! Can't you see this is the best option for everyone!?"

The Warden, however was not convinced. "I am sorry, but as the head of this institution, not only must I look out for the safety for the children here but also for the potential parents who seek to adopt them. And in order to do that, not only am I considering separating that boy from the rest of the children, I am also going to make sure he never sees anything outside these walls!" The ibex shouted. "Your request for adoption has been revoked. Good day!"

Standing on a water barrel beneath The Warden's office window, which probably wasn't as "secret as they had thought, both Hiro and Nuan were shocked at what The Warden had said. A look of despair and hopelessness quickly etched itself into Hiro's features. The wolf pup let himself down from the barrel and slowly dragged his feet back to the table where he had his checkers match with the nice couple whom he had hoped would be his new family.

Behind him Nuan tried to find the words to console her friend, but nothing came to mind that could lift the spirits of the wolf whose dreams had been crushed. All she could do was place her hand on Hiro's shoulder and hoped that it would be enough.

The sound of a door slamming open had gathered the attention of everyone in the courtyard, a pair of snow leopards, a broken hearted female, and a livid male, came out of the main building and made their way to the young wolf. The male stopped in front of Hiro and placed his hands on the boys shoulders. "Don't you worry Hiro, we'll find a way through this."

The pup looked in the snow leopard's eyes with a bitter smile, and with a breaking voice said…

"It's okay, I'm used to this by now."

Each word smashed what was left of their hopes to dust like blows from a hammer.

"Ahem!"

The Warden stood in the doorway of the main building, the look on his face told the couple they should leave at once. They both gave one last glare to The Warden and left.

Nuan wanted to say something to her friend but another voice called her attention.

"Nuan! Time to go, dear!"

A sheep couple called the little goat girl over to them. Nuan looked back to Hiro and tried to speak, but Hiro raised a hand, silencing her. "Don't worry about me Nuan, I'll be okay." He tried to put on a brave face, but wasn't doing a very good job.

"But it isn't fair! He can't keep you here like this!"

Hiro put his arms around Nuan in a tight hug, the small gesture somehow gave Nuan a little bit of hope for the best friend she ever had in the orphanage. "Don't worry, he won't."

After Hiro had released Nuan from the hug and watched her leave with her new family, he shifted his gaze over to The Warden who glared at the young wolf. But then Hiro did something he had never done before; he glared back.

"I'm getting out of here tonight."

Later that night.

Hiro sat on his bed in the boys dorm, after the adoptions that took place today, he was the only one left. As he sat there he started to gaze out the window at the full moon. As the moonlight washed over the young wolf the mysterious black marking on his right arm began to shine, something that he could not explain. He switched his gaze to his glowing arm and decided now was the perfect time to put his plan into action.

Earlier, just as the sun was beginning to set, Hiro gathered all the sheets in the room and began to tie them together. Every now and again he would stop what he was doing to listen for any footsteps in the hallway, and thanks to his keen ears and The Wardens hooves, Hiro could hear The Warden coming from a mile away.

Now, as the moon ruled the night sky, he quietly got out of his bed and tied one end of the sheet rope to the leg of his bed closest to the window, and made his way to his gateway to freedom.

As he approached the window Hiro gazed out, beyond the thin pane of glass that separated him from the outside, beyond the walls he had been confined in all his life, and beyond the horizon, where he would finally be free.

Hiro took one last moment to listen for The Warden, when he heard nothing the young wolf quickly and quietly climbed up to the latch and attempted to lift the window. He dug his claws into the wood and pulled upward with all his might. The window wasn't budging much and when it did it would make a small squeaking sound. After two or three minutes of struggling, Hiro was able to open the window wide enough for him to crawl out of. He then grabbed the sheet rope and threw it out the window.

Practically shaking with anticipation, Hiro took one last look over his shoulder to see if the coast was clear….

And his heart sank when he saw The Warden standing in the doorway.

The ibex stood with a candle in one hand and what looked like a leg from a piece of furniture in the other. His glare fixed of Hiro, then moved to the sheet rope, then the window then finally back to Hiro. The Warden's eyes narrowed at the young wolf. "Going somewhere, are we?" The Warden asked putting the candle on one of the nightstands as he made his way into the room.

Hiro turned and faced his tormentor from from his time here at the orphanage. Every wrong The Warden had ever done him suddenly came rushing back to him. Every hit and slap, and every bit of verbal abuse that ever came out of the ibex's mouth came back as fresh in the young wolf's mind as though it had just happened. "I'm leaving this place. And there's nothing you can do to stop me!" Hiro declared.

The Warden smirked evilly at Hiro. "The only way you'll leave here is in a long wooden box." The Warden quickened his pace while raising the table leg above his head. "But don't worry, I'll make sure to say nice things when they bury you!"

With a mad gleam in his eye The Warden swung the table leg at Hiro's head, but stopped as his eyes became transfixed on Hiro's right arm. The way it shimmered seemed to momentarily have a hypnotic effect on the Ibex. But it quickly ended with a sneer from The Warden. "I always knew you were a monster! It's bad enough a bloody wolf was put on this institutions doorstep all those years ago. That senile old woman should have thrown you out on the streets when she had the chance!"

Hiro bared his teeth at the ibex, causing him to take a step back. "Is that why?" The young wolf growled. "You hate me just because I'm a wolf!?"

The Warden narrowed his eyes at Hiro. "Yes, but don't start thinking you're special or anything…" The Warden raised the table leg again. "... anyone with fangs and claws are demons as far as I'm concerned!" He swung his weapon at Hiro; the young wolf dodged by moving back as quickly as he could. "By getting rid of you, I feel as though I'm doing the world a favor!" The Warden swung at Hiro again, and missed.

"If you wanted to be rid of me so bad, why didn't you let anyone adopt me?" Hiro asked, dodging another swing from The Warden.

"So you can sharpen your claws on their flesh? Do you really think I'd be able to live with that on my conscience? I already felt like I was taking great risks letting you interact with the other children, I wasn't about to let you harm anyone outside these walls!"

The Warden swung the table leg at Hiro again, only this time he was ready for it. Hiro didn't know if it was the influence of the moon or not, but once The Warden got within a certain distance (A/N Arms length. First time using The Lunar Sphere!) Hiro was able to see where the attack was coming from. As The Wardens arm came down on the young wolf, Hiro grabbed the ibex by the wrist and gave him a quick pull, adding to The Warden's momentum and throwing him off balance, as The Warden fell Hiro spun around to give himself a little momentum and elbow bashed the ibex in the side of the head.

The Warden fell to the floor, his consciousness fading in and out, Hiro then took the opportunity to escape. He began to climb out the window and as he began his descent he took one last look at The Warden, and not caring if he was heard or not he spoke… "In case you didn't notice, I didn't need my claws or fangs to take you down, jerk."

Hiro slid down the sheet rope and as soon as his feet touched the ground, he sprinted for the front gate. Thankfully for Hiro, the gate was light so he was able to open it with a moderate amount of effort. Once the gate was open enough for him to squeeze through he then ran down the road leading to the nearest town, after that he continued to run until the sun rose.

As the dawn broke, Hiro collapsed from exhaustion. Once he had caught his breath, Hiro looked around to see he had collapsed in a grassy field. He looked to where he had run from, but the town and the orphanage was nowhere in sight… he was free.

As Hiro lay on his back he took the time to enjoy the cool morning breeze caressing his fur. He then wondered what he would do now, but quickly shook these thoughts away, for he decided he was going to take his newfound freedom and enjoy it one day at a time.

Present day. Hiro's P.O.V

"Wow! I guess I was worried for nothing, Mr. Dragon Warrior." My old friend Nuan teased as I pulled the kiosk with all her wares. I had just finished telling her about everything that happened since we took our separate ways at the orphanage. "Still, I always knew The Warden was an ass, but I never thought he would try to kill you."

I chuckled a little at the memory. "Yeah, neither did I." I looked ahead to where The Five and the Sapphire masters were walking. They decided to go on ahead a little so as to give my old friend and I a chance to catch up. "Hey!" I yelled up. "We should be almost there, right?" I shouted, they weren't that far ahead but I thought I would mess with them a little. All work and no play and… you get the idea.

Tigress Gave me a flat look as Kira Ni looked at the map. "About another mile and we should see the city from the top of that hill way over there." The buxom polar bear gestured to a large hill a mile ahead of us.

"So, you and The Furious Five and the Masters of the Sapphire Palace are trying to find that big guy's sister?" Nuan asked me. I nodded. "Seems a little overkill for a missing person's job if you ask me."

She kinda had a point there. "Normally you'd be right, but seeing as we've encountered a dangerous group of bandits who seem to be after the refugees from Japan, I think it's gone from 'overkill' to 'appropriate'."

Nuan nodded, seeing the logic in my answer. "So what will you do if you face these bandits again?" She asked. All these years and she's still as curious as ever.

I rolled my shoulders a little, they were starting to get stiff. "I haven't really planned that far ahead…" Never really do, I just like to make decisions as they present themselves. "... but if I were to make a plan right now, it would be… Fight… and win."

"I like it. Short and to the point." She giggled. Her laugh became contagious when I started chuckling myself.

"Hiro!" I looked up at the top of the hill to see Tigress motioning me to hurry up. Nuan and I made it up the hill and as we climbed i noticed everyone standing perfectly still… maybe they just wanted to take in the view of the city. Once Nuan and I got to the top I figured out the real reason.

Before us was the magnificent port city of Shanghai… and some of it was on fire.

Uh-oh.

"Well," I sighed. "This isn't good.

A/N

Well, that's the end of that chapter, hopefully the next one won't take so long for me to write. If it does I beg of you; please be patient with me.

Oh, for those of you who voted for Hiro's new weapon thank you so much. If you haven't I encourage you to do so. In a review or PM me, either one is good.

Well see ya next time!


	13. Chapter 13

**Kung Fu Wolf: Rising of the Moon**

 **Chapter thirteen: Preparations**

 **Tigress's P.O.V.**

The fires were put out, the injured were being helped to hospitals, and Hiro was a little ways away speaking with the mayor of the port city. According to the locals, the city was attacked by a large group of well organized bandits; The Bandit Brigade. They came without warning, causing as much havoc as they could. The strangest thing was that nothing was reported stolen. Not really something you'd expect from a group of bandits.

Behind me, the Sapphire masters and the rest of the five were trying to keep Marcus calm, he wanted to search the city for his sister ever since arriving. Normally I would have let him search but I wanted to get some more information on what happened here; which is why we're waiting for Hiro to finish his talk with Shanghai's mayor.

"Marcus, please calm down!" Di Foon tried, along with Kira Ni and Shu Lan, to keep Marcus from breaking off from the group and running through the city.

"I can't! My sister's here! I gotta find her!" Marcus tried to get passed the Sapphire girls but was being blocked at every turn. I turned around and walked over to where Marcus was now trying to force his way through. Although I could understand where he was coming from, this was not the time for any rash actions.

I was about to smack some sense back into the giant panther when I felt a hand on my shoulder, I turned to see Hiro… only this time I wasn't met with his usual quiet smile. Instead he looked… troubled, what had the mayor told him? He then turned his attention to the group and cleared his throat to get their attention.

Surprisingly it worked. Usually I'd have to yell or apply some kind of painful joint lock to get everyone to pay attention; and yet Hiro got it done with minimal effort. I must admit, I'm a little jealous of Hiro's growing authority. I wonder if it started when Hiro almost broke Chin's wrist.

"Alright everyone…" Hiro started looking absolutely serious. If Hiro is this focused, it can't mean anything good. "... Here's what I got from the mayor… No thefts; odd in its own right, plenty of property damage, and…" He got quiet, his gaze slowly shifted to Marcus. "...kidnappings."

Marcus finally broke through the wall of masters in front of him and walked right up to Hiro, his expression a mixture of anger and worry. "My sister?" He asked, in a no nonsense tone.

Hiro just shook his head. "I don't know friend, all I know is when the Bandit Brigade left, the went west. According to the Mayor, there is an old rock quarry there; apparently the bandits are using it to keep the refugees hostage." Marcus tensed up.

"Sounds like a trap to me." I said. Hiro nodded.

"It most likely is… in which case…" He put his finger and thumb to his chin and started to pace back and forth. I could have come up with a few plans (in fact, I already did) but I wanted to see what Hiro would come up with. After a couple of minutes of pacing he stopped and turned to us, I could see the wheels in his head turning, alright Dragon Warrior… what's the plan? "Hmm." My wolf companion mused. "Mantis…" The insect master stood at attention in front of Hiro like he was a high ranking general in the Imperial army.

I don't think Mantis has ever showed me that kind of respect before; fear definitely, but never respect on this level. Yep, I'm definitely getting jealous of Hiro here. "I have a job for you, my diminutive friend." Mantis nodded, apparently ready for whatever task Hiro had for him. "I want you to go to the quarry and scout it out; keep low and hidden, and do not engage any of the bandits… we want as much information as we can get."

Mantis nodded enthusiastically. "Don't you worry about a thing boss." Boss? Hiro is called Boss now? "You sure you don't want me to take a few of them out?" He asked.

Hiro answered quickly. "No, save it for when the real fighting begins." And with that Mantis scurried off to the direction of the quarry. After Mantis had left, Hiro turned to the rest of us and spoke. "As for the rest of you, I want you all to do whatever you need to prepare. We all meet back here when the sun starts to get low... after sunset… we're in for a fight."

 **Hiro's P.O.V.**

After I had sent everyone off to prepare for the upcoming battle I went off to the pier to handle some preparations of my own. I didn't need much; I had my hanbo and my training, and you'd think that's all I'd really need right?

Sometimes, so do I.

As I may have mentioned before, to use my Kung Fu style to the fullest I need a calm mind… and right now my mind is anything but.

You see, I'm still supposed to be the new guy, the rookie, the novice; sure I achieved the rank of Master, but I'm still not sure I've earned everything that comes with it. I've noticed that everyone seems to see me as some kind of leader, but where am I leading them? Can I get everyone through this? Can I save the people who have been taken captive? Can I bring everyone back home safely? Can I…

Oh, not this again! A mountain of questions, but not a single answer. I swear I'm getting tired of this. I mean, life was infinitely easier back when I was still traveling all over China. But I'm not… I'm here… sitting on the edge of the docks… trying to figure out how to make this work.

"You seem troubled."

I looked over my shoulder and saw my favorite feline behind me; arms crossed and a small smirk on her face. "Yeah, I guess you could say that." I replied, beckoning her over to sit with me. We sat in silence for about a minute or two before Tigress spoke.

"So… what's the plan gonna be?" She asked me. Honestly, I didn't have a plan, not yet anyway. The only thing we needed to worry about is getting ready for the upcoming fight with the bandit brigade.

"We need to wait until Mantis comes back and tells us what he had learned, until then we get ready any way we can and sit tight." I saw her nod out of the corner of my eye, I guess she has no problem with that idea.

"Well, in that case…" She got to her feet and offered me her hand. "... You wanna spar?"

I'll admit, that actually caught me off guard. I haven't really spared with Tigress since my second day at the Jade Palace. "Uhh… sure, I guess." Wait, was that really the best answer I could give?

"What? Nervous?" She teased.

"No." I said, a little indignant. Ok, maybe just a little. I mean, last time we spared Tigress held back a lot… this time I think she might go all out. And with her being known as one of the greatest Kung Fu masters in all of China, it's definitely something to be nervous about.

…

What's with the looks? I told you I'm not scared!

Anyway, we made our way from the docks to the beach that wasn't too far away. Once we got to a distance where we were sure we wouldn't be disturbed, Tigress turned and faced me. "Are you ready Dragon Warrior?" She asked, getting into her stance. I smirked a little and closed my eyes, letting the calm wash over me. I slowly got into my own stance, and brought up my Lunar Sphere.

"Are you… Master Tigress?"

A large grin slowly appeared on her face. "You know, I'm going to be honest here; I've been waiting for this for a while." My smile grew wider, for a master like Tigress to truly want to fight someone like me… It's a sign of acknowledgement. And for a new guy like me… that's one of the greatest honors I could receive right now.

Tigress made the first move; with almost blinding speed she closed the gap between us, trying to throw a punch at the center of my face. I knocked her hand away and countered with a palm strike to her abdomen, which she blocked using her knee. Using her free hand, Tigress threw a backhanded swing at my chin; I grabbed her by the wrist before she could make contact, twisted my body around and threw her over my shoulder.

Tigress landed on her feet a couple yards away, she turned back to me with the same smirk on her face… gotta admit, it's actually kinda cute. "You've definitely gotten stronger Hiro, I was trying to end it with the opening attack." Thought so; no holding back.

I chuckled a little. "Aww come on now Tigress, where would the fun be if you ended things so early?" I joked. Her smirk got a little wider

"Oh, don't worry Dragon Warrior, there is still plenty of fun to be had." And rushed me with the same incredible speed as before, only this time she swung her leg at me with enough force to shatter my ribs. I dove under her and let her fly over my head, momentarily losing the Lunar Sphere. Once I got back to my feet I brought the Sphere back up… and honestly not a moment too soon. Using the Lunar Sphere I… uh…. felt Tigress behind me, so I spun around and caught a punch she threw at the back of my head.

I saw an opportunity.

I used the momentum from my feline companion's attack to spin her around and twist her arm behind her back and wrapped my other arm around her neck, immobilizing her. "Ooh, not bad. I thought I had you there." Tigress said, panting a little.

That's a bit of an understatement. She almost had me. If it weren't for the sudden… awareness the Lunar Sphere gave me, I would have been knocked out cold.

"But…"

I felt a sharp pain in my ribs, Tigress used her free arm to bury her elbow in my side. The sudden action caused me to release her and she wasted no time in executing her next attack. Tigress reached behind herself, over her shoulders, and grabbed me by my shirt. Next thing I knew I was lying on my back with Tigress crouching over me, that rare and genuine smile gracing her features. "You hesitated. That's why you lost."

Yep, she's right about that. Analyzing my skills and abilities in the middle of a fight probably isn't the smartest thing to do. "Sorry, had something on my mind."

"The bandit army?" She asked.

"No, something about my style."

"You know, I've been meaning to ask, but have you done something about that flaw your style has with your lower body?"

I got to my feet. "Not yet, but I'm working on it."

She noded. "Well I'm sure you'll be able to figure something out. In the meantime, we should start heading back; you don't want to be late for your own deadline do you?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

I looked to the west and saw what she was talking about. The sun was already beginning to set. "Right then, let's get moving." I clapped my hands together and started walking to the rendezvous point, with Tigress by my side.

For a few minutes, we walked in silence until Tigress asked me…

"Sooo, what's the plan?"

I thought for a moment and replied.

"Well for now we need to wait 'till Mantis returns to think of the whole thing, but so far the plan is to… defeat the bandits… rescue the hostages, and head back to the Jade Palace for a party."

She giggled a little at the last part of the plan. "I'm not sure Master Shifu would approve of a party." Eh, probably not, but hey, it's worth a try.

After walking for a while longer we made it back to the spot where we were supposed to meet. Everyone had already arrived and were circled around Mantis (back earlier than I expected) who looked like he was… dancing on a open scroll.

Kira Ni looked over and called out to Tigress and myself. "Hey, what took you both so long, you're late!"

I smiled a little. "No we're not, you're all just early." I looked down at the insect master. "What's with the dance routine Mantis?" I asked, looking more closely I noticed he had ink on his feet, and was using the scroll to…

"Drawing a map."

I looked beneath Mantis and saw that a very highly detailed map of the quarry, complete with a count of the enemy forces (77 by the way) and the location of the hostages. "This is very nicely done, Mantis." I praised. "Good work." That seemed to inflate the bugs ego because as he 'danced' he began to hum a little tune.

"Hold on." Tigress said, getting everyone's attention. "If you can draw maps like this, why is it that you've never mentioned this before?" She asked. Huh, I figured everyone already knew…

Mantis finished the map, and began wiping his feet off in the dirt. "First of all," He said, slightly indignant. "No one ever asked me to draw up a map before." I snickered under my breath, 'you never asked'... classic. "Secondly, you never needed me to draw a map before." Tigress rolled her eyes at the last reason.

Ignoring what was going on around me, I knelt down and examined the map of the quarry. It was a somewhat large area, almost looked like a wide, but not deep, sinkhole. And in the sides of the sinkholes walls were three caves. According to the map, the bandits have the hostages divided into three groups. So we'll have to divide the group more than I thought.

"Ok!" I shouted getting everyone's attention. "Each area where the hostages are is guarded by no less than a dozen bandits, right Mantis?" He nodded. "So, three groups of two will work on taking the guards out and freeing the hostages; the plan is to wait until all three groups have freed the people before leaving the quarry in a single unit. Understand?" Everyone nodded silently.

I really hope I'm doing this right.

"Group one will be made up of… Viper and Kira Ni." Both girls nodded to each other.

"We won't let you down, Hiro." Viper said confidently. I have no doubt about that.

"The next group will have… Chin and Monkey."

Chin cracked his knuckles. "Alrighty then, consider it done." Monkey nodded in agreement, with a slightly sinister look on his face. My guess is he is planning something evil for the bandits.

"And the last group will consist of… Di Foon and Marcus." Both cats nodded… I just noticed everyone has been doing that a lot recently.

"The rest of us will focus on taking out The Bandit Brigade; no one must be allowed to escape." I finished.

"The way the bandits have the hostages divided, it almost entirely looks like a trap." Tigress said.

I nodded, oh great… now I'm doing it. "It most definitely is a trap." I said, agreeing with Tigress's assumptions.

The Tiger master shrugged her shoulders and asked. "So what do we do about the trap?"

A grin came to my face.

"We spring it."

 **A/N**

 **Hey guys I'm back! I know last time I said I wouldn't take so long to update my story, but life has just been kicking my ass lately. The next chapter, hopefully, won't take so long.**

 **Anyways, polls are closed and Hiro's new weapon has been decided. What is it? You'll find out soon enough.**

 **Also, comment, review, like, follow… and let me know how you think I'm doing so far.**

 **See ya next time.**


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